PORTLAND, Ore. -- Eastern Washington University's men's tennis team fell 7-0 to the University of Portland on Saturday (Feb. 18). This concludes the Eagles' road trip to Portland this weekend with the team defeating Portland State 5-2 on Friday, Feb. 17.
"If one had watched at the start of the match it was dead even," head coach Steve Clark said. "We had spoken before the match about how to handle turning points and playing the journey of the matches with more focus but they played too well to get back the breaks."
With this loss, Eastern is now 2-34 overall against Portland. The last time EWU defeated the Pilots was back in 2008, where the Eagles won 4-3.
Senior Robert Dula played in the No. 1 singles spot and lost 6-2 in both of his sets against Mike Pervolarakis. The Big Sky Player of the Week honoree went 0-2 this weekend and is 1-1 in the Big Sky competition.
Sophomore Victor Pereira and junior Scott Paz both had close first sets in the No. 2 and 3 single spots. Pereira lost 7-5 while Paz lost 7-6 in a tiebreaker. Both players went on to lose the second set as well.
Junior Flavien Raveau lost to Alex Wallce with scores of 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 4 singles spot. In the No. 5 singles spot, Junior Ricardo Almeida lost to Felix Fan 6-3, 6-1.
Senior Wacil Bendjelti finished off the singles play in the No. 6 singles spot. He fell to his opponent Jared Madison with scores of 6-3, 6-1.
"Truly some great points but fell as did Wacil and Rob," Clark said. "Wacil must have had 10 sudden death points in his match and Rob just met a more aggressive player with a bigger serve and forehand playing inside the court. Rob threw the kitchen sink at him to no avail. But as always he fought."
In doubles play, Dula and Pereira teamed up for the No. 1 doubles spot and fell 6-2. Paz and Flavien had the closest doubles match of the day, falling 6-4 to Wallace and Fan in the No. 2 doubles spot. Junior Vuk Vuckovic and senior Luke Ness finished off doubles play in the No. 3 doubles spot, falling 6-2 to Goutham Sundarm and Jamie Fisher.
The Eagles will continue play this Friday, Feb. 24 against North Dakota in Cheney. Matches will begin at 3 p.m. in the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse.
Portland 7, Eastern Washington 0
Singles competition
1. PERVOLARAKIS, Mike (POR) def. DULA, Robert (EWU) 6-2, 6-2
2. GARCIA, Mathieu (POR) def. PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) 7-5, 6-2
3. GARCIA, Pierre (POR) def. PAZ, Scott (EWU) 7-6, 6-3
4. WALLACE, Alex (POR) def. RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) 6-2, 6-4
5. FAN, Felix (POR) def. ALMEIDA, Ricardo (EWU) 6-3, 6-1
6. MADISON, Jared (POR) def. BENDJELTI, Wacil (EWU) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. PERVOLARAKIS, Mike/GARCIA, Mathieu (POR) def. DULA, Robert/PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) 6-2
2. WALLACE, Alex/FAN, Felix (POR) def. PAZ, Scott/RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) 6-4
3. SUNDARAM, Goutham/FISHER, Jamie (POR) def. VUCKOVIC, Vuk/NESS, Luke (EWU) 6-2
