Portland men’s tennis lost to the No. 58-ranked Loyola Marymount University Lions in a 4-0 decision during a West Coast Conference match on April 4 at the LMU Tennis Center in Los Angeles.
The loss leaves Portland with a season record of 5-12 and an 0-4 mark in conference play, while LMU improved to 15-1 overall and remains undefeated in conference action. The Pilots secured a win at No. 1 doubles, with Nikola Keremedchiev and Cade Fernando edging out Max Wuelfing and Alex Padro Parra in a close tiebreaker, but LMU clinched the doubles point by winning at both No. 2 and No. 3 positions.
In singles competition, LMU won the first set across all six matches, though Portland responded by taking the second set in four contests before ultimately falling short as the Lions claimed victories at positions two, four, and five to secure the team win. Two singles matches were left unfinished when play was abandoned: Tom Garcia led Emil Kindhult at No. 3 singles, while Tannor Binder trailed Tristan Messerli by one game on serve at No. 6.
“We aren’t far away from them,” Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. “They are 15-1 and we have been struggling. It’s hard to define confidence, but it shows up in decisiveness at big moments. They are rolling and on home courts and probably feel like they can’t miss, while we feel a bit snakebitten. I like that we battled back and won four of the six second sets, but we were just in too big of a hole.”
Portland will conclude its road trip against another ranked opponent when it faces No. 28 Pepperdine on Sunday morning.
