PORTLAND, Ore. – The New Mexico Lobos pulled out a 4-3 win in a thrilling, marathon men's tennis match Monday at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center. The Lobos improve to 3-3 overall, while the Pilots drop to 3-3.

New Mexico won a competitive doubles point and then navigated a tough lineup of singles matches to come out on top. Three of the six singles meetings went to three sets.

The Lobos earned the doubles point with a 6-3 win at No. 1 and 6-4 victory at No. 3. The Pilots No. 2 tandem of Maxim Groysman and Cade Fernando were up 6-5 when the point was clinched.

The first wave of singles play was intense and featured a pair of comeback wins from Portland to tie the score. After Aram Noroozian doubled New Mexico's lead with a win at the top of the lineup, the Pilots picked up points with three-set victories from Nikola Keremedchiev and Stefan Skobelev at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

Skobelev scored Portland's opening point with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 comeback win against Daniil Kakhniuk. Keremedchiev then overcame a 3-0 third set deficit to prevail 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 over Georgio Samaha.

Dario Ciobotaru put the Lobos back up 3-2 with a tiebreak win in the third set against Tom Garcia, but Pilot freshman Lucas Kimelman evened the score again with a 6-1, 7-6 win versus Avery Tallakson at No. 5 singles. Kimelman improved to 5-1 in dual singles matches this season.

Nicolas Recoura provided the winning point with a 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 6 singles for New Mexico.

"It was an incredible college tennis match for the fans and very exciting for the players," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "I feel we did a good job of fighting through adversity to put ourselves on the doorstep of winning, but we also created a lot of of those adversities. It would be easy if one or two more points had went our way and we won this match to think that we are on the right track and everything is great. Losing, hopefully, helps us examine it a little bit closer. The intensity and the excitement was there from both teams, I just felt like the dips in concentration put us in a place to have to overcome a bit too much. Our goal is always to keep getting better and better as tennis players. This is one of those turning point matches where we need to come to grips with the amount of points that we're leaving on the table that I feel like we work on during the week, but the energy or the emotion of the moment takes us away from it during matches."

The Pilots will return to dual match action with a pair of matches in Irvine, Calif. in two weeks. Portland meets host UC Irvine on Saturday, March 1 at 1 p.m. and then takes on Temple in a neutral site match at Anteater Stadium on Sunday, March 2.

New Mexico 4, Portland 3
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center)
February 17, 2025

Singles
1. Aram Noroozian (UNM) def. Maxim Groysman (POR) 6-2, 6-3
2. Nikola Keremedchiev (POR) def. Georgio Samaha (UNM) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
3. Stefan Skobelev (POR) def. Daniil Kakhniuk (UNM) 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-1
4. Dario Ciobotaru (UNM) def. Tom Garcia (POR) 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4)
5. Lucas Kimelman (POR) def. Avery Tallakson (UNM) 6-1, 7-6 (2)
6. Nicolas Recoura (UNM) def. Cade Fernando (POR) 6-1, 6-4

Doubles
1. Noroozian/Samaha (UNM) def. Keremedchiev/Skobelev (POR) 6-3
2. Groysman/Fernando (POR) vs. Kakhniuk/Recoura (UNM) 6-5, unfinished
3. Tallakson/Ciobotaru (UNM) def. Garcia/Kimelman (POR) 6-4

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (1,3,2,4,5,6) 
  Get Your Tickets Now!
Secure your spot now for any upcoming Portland Pilots ticketed home event by visiting PortlandPilots.com/Tickets or by downloading the Portland Pilots App.  For group and fan experience package information, email pilotsboxoffice@up.edu.

Donate Today 
Fans interested in making a contribution to University of Portland Athletics can do so by clicking here. Your gift helps our over 300 student-athletes compete at the highest level – on and off the field - in the rapidly changing world of intercollegiate athletics. All gifts to Pilot Athletics are 100% tax deductible.

Follow Along With the Action
Get the latest news and information about your favorite University of Portland athletic programs by visiting PortlandPilots.com. You can also follow along for the most dynamic coverage and team-centric content by following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, and following us on Instagram.