PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland men's tennis team completed a weekend home sweep and concluded the regular season with an impressive 4-1 victory over No. 71 Pacific Sunday afternoon at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots finished the season with a perfect 10-0 record on their home court and have clinched a spot in the six-team West Coast Conference Championships.
The Pilots (15-7, 6-3 WCC) set the tone early by winning two of three doubles matches to claim the initial point. Senior Kent Andreasen teamed with sophomore Alex Wallace for a 6-3 win at No. 2 and then sophomore Pierre Garcia and freshman Felix Fan clinched the point with a 6-3 victory at No. 3.
"We have the utmost respect for Pacific," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "They have beaten us the last three times in fairly close matches and they are just a very good team. We had to play really well today to win. Obviously home-court advantage helps in our conference, but our guys still had to step up at important moments and push themselves through. Number two doubles really set the tone for the day. Kent Andreasen, playing in his last match of his college career at home, and Alex Wallace played terrific. Our number three team made some adjustments from yesterday and clinched the point for us."
Portland then played well in singles with the top three spots taking the court first. Pacific evened the score when Sem Verbeek snapped Michail Pervolarakis' nine-match win streak at the No. 1 position, but the Garcia brothers quickly brought the momentum back to the Pilots.
Mathieu Garcia defeated Jose Chamba 7-6, 6-2 at No. 2 shortly followed by Pierre Garcia finishing Daniel Alameh 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 to give the Pilots a 3-1 edge.
"I can't say enough about the toughness of the Garcia brothers," Gross said. "They both survived close first sets and then got out ahead in the second sets and rolled."
The bottom of Portland's lineup was also up to the task during the second wave of singles play. Wallace clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Miguel Diaz at No. 4 singles. Freshmen Felix Fan and Carlos Donat were in close matches at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions when the score was settled.
"Alex Wallace has been such a huge force for our team this year," Gross noted. "He is an amazing story having taken a year off to train to be a baseball pitcher. Halfway through the fall season he decided tennis was what was in his heart. I don't think anybody involved with our team can imagine him not being in the program. I am so thankful that he came back to tennis. His attitude combined with some really impressive results this spring have made a huge difference in our program."
Portland has guaranteed itself no worse than a fifth-place WCC finish and can move to as high as the No. 3 seed depending on results from around the conference next week.
The 2016 WCC Championships will be held at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, Calif. on April 28-30. The top two seeds will receive first round byes, while the Thursday opening round will pit the No. 3 versus No. 6 seeds and then the No. 4 versus No. 5 seeds.
Portland 4, #71 Pacific 1
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center)
April 17, 2016
Singles
1. Sem Verbeek (PAC) def. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) 7-5, 6-2
2. Mathieu Garcia (POR) def. Jose Chamba (PAC) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
3. Pierre Garcia (POR) def. Daniel Alameh (PAC) 6-4, 6-3
4. Alex Wallace (POR) def. Miguel Diaz (PAC) 6-4, 6-0
5. Felix Fan (POR) vs. Alex Giannini (PAC) 3-6, 5-2, unfinished
6. Carlos Donat (POR) vs. Bernardo Oliveira (PAC) 6-1, 2-3, unfinished
Doubles
1. Verbeek/Giannini (PAC) def. Pervolarakis/M. Garcia (POR) 6-4
2. Kent Andreasen/Wallace (POR) def. Chamba/Diaz (PAC) 6-3
3. Fan/P. Garcia (POR) def. Alameh/Oliveira (PAC) 6-3
Match Notes:
Pacific 13-11, 5-2 WCC; National ranking #71
Portland 15-7, 6-3 WCC
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,2,3,4)
