FAIRFIELD, Calif. – Portland men's tennis battled but came up just short in a 4-3 loss to No. 55 LMU Thursday in the opening round of the 2026 West Coast Conference Tournament at Green Valley Country Club.

The marathon match featured a trio of three-set singles matches, including a pair of comeback wins by the Pilots. It was the Lions that would hold on to prevent Portland's furious late rally.

The Pilots started strong by securing the doubles point. LMU took No. 2 doubles, but Portland answered with Stefan Skobelev and Tannor Binder picking up a 6-3 win at No. 3 against Darius Tamaddon and Cyrus Ahmad. Portland's No. 1 duo of Nikola Keremedchiev and Cade Fernando then clinched with a 7-2 tiebreaker victory over Cesar Cruz and Emil Kindhult.

The Lions regained the lead with straight set wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions before Skobelev came back to defeat Jakub Hrynkiewicz 4-6, 6-4. 6-2 at No. 4 to make it 2-2. LMU picked up a win at No. 6 followed by Pilot sophomore Tom Garcia pulling out a 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 thriller over Emil Kindhult at No. 3 to even the score again.

The Lions were able to hold on with Cyrus Ahmad outlasting Tannor Binder 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 at the No. 5 position.

"I'm really proud of the effort today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "We had to battle over the last two weeks just to get into the tournament and then we put a ton of energy into doubles and got that point. We immediately lost the first set in all six of the singles matches, yet we were right there at the end to win it almost four hours into the match. Stefan and Tom really gave us a chance and Tannor, who got the clinch last week for us, was just a little bit hampered with an injury and couldn't quite get us to the finish line, but he did a great job."

LMU moves on to Friday's semifinals with the championship match on Saturday. Visit the WCC Championships Tournament Central Page for the complete schedule, live coverage links and other information.

#55 LMU 4, Portland 3
Fairfield, Calif. (Green Valley Country Club)
April 23, 2026

Singles
1. Max Wuelfing (LMU) def. Nikola Keremedchiev (POR) 6-2, 6-2
2. Cesar Cruz (LMU) def. Cade Fernando (POR) 6-1, 6-1
3. Tom Garcia (POR) def. Emil Kindhult (LMU) 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5
4. Stefan Skobelev (POR) def. Jakub Hrynkiewicz (LMU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
5. Cyrus Ahmad (LMU) def. Tannor Binder (POR) 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-3
6. Tristan Messerli (LMU) def. Gian Manhas (POR) 6-4, 6-1

Doubles
1. Keremedchiev/Fernando (POR) def. Kindhult/Cruz (LMU) 7-6 (2)
2. Wuelfing/Messerli (LMU) def. Eli Noel/Garcia (POR) 6-3
3. Skobelev/Binder (POR) def. Ahmad/Darius Tamaddon (LMU) 6-3

Match Notes
WCC Tournament Opening Round
#55 LMU 17-4
Portland 8-14
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,1,4,6,3,5)
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