The Portland men’s tennis team lost 5-2 to the Montana Grizzlies on March 13 at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots were missing two key players in their singles lineup, which contributed to the defeat.
This match was significant as it highlighted the impact of injuries and lineup changes on team performance. The absence of Cade Fernando, who was injured during doubles play, and Lucas Kimelman left Portland with a less experienced bottom half of the singles lineup.
Montana started strong by winning the doubles point. Duncan McCall and Baltazar Wiger-Nordas ended an eight-match win streak for Portland’s Nikola Keremedchiev and Cade Fernando with a 6-4 victory at No. 1 doubles. Montana also secured a win at No. 2 doubles, clinching the first point of the match.
In singles play, Keremedchiev managed to come back from an early deficit to defeat Tom Bittner in straight sets at No. 1 singles. Stefan Skobelev also earned a win for Portland at No. 3 singles after a three-set battle against McCall. However, Montana won four out of six singles matches overall.
“Montana was just better than us today,” Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. “They played some very good doubles and just had a little too much depth in their lineup. We are young down below and need that experience to keep getting better. We battled and did the best we could, but they were just better. Nikola and Stefan had very nice efforts today. We just need to get healthy and learn from our experiences and be ready for some more opportunities coming up.”
Looking ahead, Portland will begin West Coast Conference play with an away match against Pacific on March 21.
