The Portland men’s tennis team split its doubleheader at the Golden State Invite in Davis, California on Friday. The Pilots secured a 4-1 victory over UC Davis before falling 4-0 to Nevada later in the day.
Against UC Davis, Portland won the doubles point with victories from Lucas Kimelman and Stefan Skobelev at No. 2 doubles (6-3), and Tom Garcia and Eli Noel at No. 3 doubles (6-2). In singles play, Cade Fernando and Kimelman earned straight-set wins at No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively. Tannor Binder clinched the match for Portland with a three-set win against Dylan Paterson at No. 6 singles.
Portland head coach Aaron Gross commented on the team’s performance: “We had a great win this morning against Davis,” Gross said. “There were 20 mile-per-hour wind gusts on their home courts and we played great. On par with how we played against liberty a couple of weeks ago so I’m really proud of how we competed. We had to manage our health this afternoon since we’re not used to playing two matches in a day and are carrying a couple of injuries. We still have another match tomorrow so we were able to get the freshmen some experience, but made it tough for us to get the job done against Nevada.”
In the afternoon matchup against Nevada, Portland dropped a close doubles point despite Nikola Keremedchiev and Fernando winning at No. 1 doubles (6-4). With Kimelman and Skobelev out of singles due to injury management, Nevada secured straight-set wins at three positions to clinch the match.
Portland’s record moved to 5-6 after these results, while UC Davis fell to 5-7 and Nevada improved to 7-2.
The Pilots will continue play in Sacramento on Saturday as they face New Mexico State in their final match of the tournament.
For more information about upcoming matches or ticket purchases, fans can visit the official ticket page or download the Portland Pilots App.
