Live Video I Live Stats I 2016 Schedule

The Portland men's tennis team opens the 2016 spring dual schedule by hosting the Portland State Vikings on Friday at 4 p.m. at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center. Live stats and live video of all Pilot home matches will be available for free once again this season.

The Pilots return seven players from last year's team that finished with a 12-8 overall record and closed the season in the ITA rankings for the first time in program history (No. 75). The Pilots started four true freshmen in last year's lineup, but were anchored by a pair of seniors at the top of the lineup. Gross brought in the No. 10-ranked mid-major recruiting class in the nation with the addition of freshmen Carlos Donat and Felix Fan. Sophomores Goutham Sundaram and  Alex Wallace also joined the roster this season.

"It's tough to really forecast this season," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Our approach has always been to focus on the next practice or match at hand. It may sound cliché, but getting better every day is always our focus. Even though four of our top six players last year were freshmen, I think we exceeded expectations. Beating Pepperdine, BYU, East Tennessee State, and LMU was pretty good stuff for us. The four freshmen were big parts of our success. Obviously they are all a year stronger and more experienced, but the two players we graduated (Reid deLaubenfels and Steffen Dierauf) are really not replaceable in a lot of ways. They were a legit No. 1 doubles team in the WCC, Steffen was one of the best singles players in the conference, and they were the backbone of our team in all of the intangibles.

"All of that cannot be replaced by a couple of players. It is going to take a total team effort – especially in the intangible category – to surpass last year's success. The reality of our situation is that we will play every match this season with only freshmen and sophomores in our singles lineup. I'm not saying any of this to look for reasons not to succeed, I am super excited about this team and I think we have the potential to do some really special things. I think our biggest challenge is going to be see if we can find a consistency in our play and results. I feel like our guys have the mental fortitude to find that consistency, but we won't truly know that until we are faced with adversity. Whether that be a tough loss or having to dig from behind to get a win, how we respond in those situations will really begin to define our group."

As Gross mentioned, four key sophomores return to anchor the singles lineup led by Michail Pervolarakis, a reigning All-WCC honorable mention selection. Pervolarakis finished with a 12-6 singles record and 5-3 mark in doubles play, primarily at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. He made a good run this fall at the USTA/ITA Regionals before earning a share of the singles title in the top draw at the Bulldog Classic.

Twins Mathieu and Pierre Garcia also posted impressive middle of the lineup results last season, while Jared Madison was a steady force at No. 6 singles. Mathieu Garcia shared the top draw singles title this fall at the Bulldog Classic with Pervolarakis.

The Pilot newcomers also had a good fall campaign with Wallace and Sundaram sharing the Red Draw singles title with fellow Portland sophomore, Jamie Fisher. Fan had good showings in all three tournaments for the Pilots as well.

Portland is scheduled to face at least seven teams that are ranked in this week's ITA National Rankings: No. 19 San Diego, No. 33 Pepperdine, No. 45 Washington, No. 54 Cal Poly, No. 57 UC Davis, No. 65 San Francisco and No. 68 Fresno State.

It all starts on Friday when crosstown rival Portland State visits.

"We respect Portland State," Gross said. "They play hard and are a good group of guys. Their coach, Toby Krauel, was a Pilot player back in the day and is still as supportive of our program as an opposing coach can be. Toby brings a ton of energy to their program. I think our guys are tired of practicing and reading about other teams results around the country. We are getting a bit of a late start for an opening dual match, but things are really going to ramp up here soon. I expect a little nerves on Friday.

"I feel like the new, ultra-shortened doubles format (first team to six with no ad scoring) is going to create some strange results all over the place. The doubles point is usually pretty important to the result of a match and with the shortened format you are going to see some upsets in the doubles point. Though we don't have one obvious established No. 1 doubles team, we do have a ton of guys that we can mix in until we find the right fits in doubles.

"I don't think I have ever had such a deep team as we do this year. Nearly everyone on our team has a chance to earn singles or doubles time as the season goes on. I think that competition will help everyone to stay sharp day in and day out. It is a competition that we haven't had the luxury of having before. I think it can be tough for the guys to have that extra pressure on them, but I also think they understand that competing has gotten them this far in their tennis lives. In order to reach their desired destinations in tennis, they are going to have to overcome a lot more than a teammate or two for a spot. I think they all understand that it is positive to have healthy competition."