Aaron Gross is set to begin his 22nd season at the helm of the University of Portland men’s tennis team and has built the Pilots into a perennially ranked and West Coast Conference championship-caliber program. Gross led Portland to its first ever WCC title in 2017 and coached Michail Pervolarakis to back-to-back WCC Player of the Year honors and the 2018 NCAA Championships.
Pervolarakis became the first Pilot and only non-Pepperdine men’s tennis player in the league to win multiple WCC Player of the Year awards. He would earn three All-WCC First Team singles awards and qualified for the 2018 NCAA Championships in singles. He battled eventual NCAA champion Petros Chrsyochos to three sets in a tough opening round loss.
Gross earned 2017 WCC Coach of the Year honors and Wilson/ITA Northwest Regional Coach of the Year recognition after leading the Pilots to an 18-3 overall record and 8-1 mark in WCC play while not playing a senior in the lineup. The team just missed an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships and was ranked a program-best No. 41 during the year and finished at No. 48 in the final ITA team rankings.
The historic season included Portland’s first win against San Diego, snapped a 21-match home winning streak by UC Davis, extended Portland's home win streak to 20 matches, and was highlighted by a thrilling 4-3 win over Pepperdine late in the season to secure the league title.
The banner year came following a solid 2016 campaign where the Pilots finished 16-8 overall and 6-3 in WCC play. The Pilots posted four wins over ranked opponents, while all eight of the losses came to teams ranked in the final Top 75 nationally. Portland finished ranked No. 74 in the final rankings of the season.
The Pilots have earned ITA team rankings in five of the last seven seasons – which included 75 teams through 2016 and then shifted to just the Top 50 in 2017. The team finished at No. 75 to close out the 2014 season. That year, Gross picked up his first WCC Coach of the Year award after leading Portland to a 13-9 overall record, 5-4 WCC mark and third place in the league standings.
Despite losing four impact seniors from the 2014 squad and featuring four true freshmen in the 2015 lineup, Gross guided the Pilots to another season that saw the team ranked repeatedly, a 12-8 overall record and 5-4 WCC finish.
In 2012, Portland reached a then-program best national ranking of No. 45 after starting the year 7-0.
Recent history has treated the Pilots well as 2010 graduate Filip Zivkovic became the first player in school history to earn All-WCC honors all four years on The Bluff. Zivkovic was a two-time first team honoree in singles and was a second team recipient once. He also earned All-WCC doubles honors three times and was nationally ranked with partner Evan Schleining in both 2009 and 2010.
Gross and the Pilots were nationally ranked for three weeks in the spring of 2007 and finished with a 13-8 overall record. Portland went 2-3 against ranked competition and finished 3-1 against WCC schools during the regular season.
Gross enjoyed a breakout 2005 season as the Pilots went 18-6 during the season, including an 11-match winning streak that stretched from January to late March. For the first time in school history, the Pilots enjoyed a midseason national ranking, entering the polls at No. 73 and reaching as high as No. 70 later in the year. The team ended the season ranked No. 13 in the difficult West Region.
Throughout his tenure, Gross has coached Travis Parrott to the NCAA Round of 16 in singles and All-America honors in 2002. Portland players have earned a total of 17 All-WCC First or Second Team honors in singles, and 12 doubles teams have garnered All-WCC First or Second Team recognition. He has had players ranked in the ITA's Top 100 for singles five seasons and doubles teams ranked in three different seasons.
Gross continued to coach Parrott into his professional career that included winning the 2009 U.S. Open Mixed Doubles Championships and an ATP doubles ranking of No. 25 in June of 2009. Roman Borvanov, a 2004 graduate, also enjoyed a successful professional career. Borvanov steadily climbed the ATP singles rankings list during a nine-year pro career with highs of No. 200 in singles and No. 182 in doubles.
Gross established The Academy in 1994 which was the first junior tennis program of its kind in the state of Oregon. The Academy is still thriving today and consists of regionally and nationally ranked juniors players. His students claimed eight consecutive (1994-2001) Oregon 4A High School Boys Championships and three others have gone on to claim USTA national titles.
As a player, Gross was the Pacific Northwest’s top-ranked junior in 1986 and won two Oregon prep singles state championships, while competing for Lincoln High School in 1985 and 1987. He went on to play No. 4 singles at the University of Texas from 1987-89 and then transferred to the University of Washington where he played No. 1 singles for the Huskies from 1990-92. Gross also competed on the ATP satellite tour in Canada in 1991 and participated in the ATP Challenger qualifying tournaments from 1988-90. He was the Pacific Northwest’s No. 2-ranked men’s open player in 1989.
GROSS YEAR-BY-YEAR RECORDS
| Year |
W-L |
WCC* |
Finish/WCC Tourney |
| 1997-98 |
8-12 |
|
- /6th |
| 1998-99 |
10-12 |
|
- /3rd |
| 1999-00 |
11-13 |
|
- /4th |
| 2000-01 |
13-9 |
|
- /4th |
| 2001-02 |
10-11 |
|
- /5th |
| 2002-03 |
8-11 |
|
- /5th |
| 2003-04 |
9-12 |
|
- /5th |
| 2004-05 |
18-6 |
|
- /4th |
| 2005-06 |
11-14 |
1-1 |
- /7th |
| 2006-07 |
13-8 |
2-1 |
- /6th |
| 2007-08 |
12-9-1 |
1-0 |
- /6th |
| 2008-09 |
13-9 |
2-0 |
- /4th |
| 2009-10 |
10-10 |
1-0 |
- /7th |
| 2010-11 |
13-9 |
1-0 |
- /6th |
| 2011-12 |
13-9 |
2-5 |
6th/Quarterfinals |
| 2012-13 |
10-12 |
2-7 |
7th/Quarterfinals |
| 2013-14 |
13-9 |
5-4 |
t-3rd/Quarterfinals |
| 2014-15 |
12-8 |
5-4 |
5th/Quarterfinals |
| 2015-16 |
16-8 |
6-3 |
t-3rd/Semifinals |
| 2016-17 |
18-3 |
8-1 |
1st/Semifinals |
| 2017-18 |
12-9 |
6-3 |
4th/Semifinals |
| 21 years |
243-203-1 |
42-29 |
|
* Non-WCC Tourney Matches; WCC Round Robin Schedule Began in 2011-12
GROSS COACHING AWARDS & HONORS
Wilson/ITA Northwest Region Coach of the Year – 2017
WCC Coach of the Year (2) – 2014, 2017
ALL-AMERICA (1)
Travis Parrott – 2002
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS SINGLES QUALIFIERS (2)
Travis Parrott – 2002 (Quarterfinals)
Michail Pervolarakis – 2018 (1st Round)
WEST COAST CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Michail Pervolarakis – 2017, 2018
NATIONALLY RANKED PLAYERS (HIGHEST RANKING)
| YEAR |
PLAYER(S) |
HIGHEST RANK |
| 1999 |
Jeff Nunnenkamp |
|
| 2002 |
Peter Malacek |
No. 75 |
| 2002 |
Travis Parrott |
No. 26 |
| 2002 |
Peter Malacek/Travis Parrott |
No. 15 Doubles |
| 2009 |
Filip Zikvovic/Evan Schleining |
No. 36 Doubles |
| 2010 |
Filip Zikvovic/Evan Schleining |
No. 31 Doubles |
| 2017 |
Michail Pervolarakis |
No. 56 |
| 2018 |
Michail Pervolarakis |
No. 18 |
ALL-WCC SINGLES
| FIRST TEAM |
SECOND TEAM |
HONORABLE MENTION |
| Jeff Nunnenkamp – 1999 |
Filip Zivkovic – 2010 |
Roman Borvanov – 2004 |
| Travis Parrott – 2002 |
Alex Ferrero – 2011 |
Matt Loucks – 2005 |
| Peter Malacek – 2002 |
Ratan Gill – 2013 |
Joel Kincaid – 2008 |
| Roman Borvanov – 2005 |
Mathieu Garcia – 2017 |
Geoff Hernandez – 2012 |
| Matt Loucks – 2006 |
Mathieu Garcia – 2018 |
Michel Hu Kwo – 2012, 2013 |
| Filip Zivkovic – 2008, 2009 |
|
Reid deLaubenfels – 2014, 2015 |
| Michel Hu Kwo – 2014 |
|
Michail Pervolarakis – 2015 |
| Steffen Dierauf – 2015 |
|
Mathieu Garcia – 2016 |
| Michail Pervolarakis – 2016, 2017, 2018 |
|
Pierre Garcia – 2016 |
|
|
Carlos Donat – 2017 |
ALL-WCC DOUBLES
| FIRST TEAM |
SECOND TEAM |
| Joe Tostenrude/Nick Tostenrude – 1999 |
Scott Kennel/James Redpath – 2006 |
| Peter Malacek/Travis Parrott – 2002 |
Filip Zivkovic/Charlie Yemm – 2008 |
| Matt Loucks/James Redpath – 2005 |
Alex Ferrero/Ratan Gill – 2014 |
| Filip Zivkovic/Colby Jager – 2007 |
Reid deLaubenfels/Steffen Dierauf – 2015 |
| Filip Zivkovic/Evan Schleining – 2009, 2010 |
|
| Michail Pervolarakis/Mathieu Garcia – 2016, 2017 |
|
ALL-WCC DOUBLES HONORABLE MENTION
Alex Ferrero/Michel Hu Kwo – 2012; Alex Ferrero/Ratan Gill – 2013; Michail Pervolarakis/Tom Hann – 2018; Pierre Garcia/Mathieu Garcia – 2018
