LOS ANGELES – The Lions men's tennis team won their West Coast Conference opening match against Portland 4-2 on Saturday afternoon at the LMU Tennis Center. 

 

The morning rain moved the match back an hour to 1:00 p.m. (PT) and the coaches elected to play singles first as LMU had a quick turnaround with a flight scheduled for Saturday evening. 

 

Portland scored the first point as Maxim Groysman defeated Toky Ranaivo in No. 4 singles in straight sets.  

 

Sebastian Nothhaft evened up the match with a 6-1, 6-4 victory in No. 3 singles and the Lions increased their lead with wins in No. 5 singles and No. 1 singles as well. Max Wuelfing won in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 and Arthur Pantino also took a straight sets victory 6-4, 6-3 to set up a deciding point for LMU. 

 

Alex Padro Parra was forced to retire after splitting the first two sets in No. 6 singles. 

 

With the pressure mounting and a potential debacle with flights and doubles on the horizon, Yassine Smiej buckled down to send the Lions home winners. After dropping the first set 6-2 and falling behind 5-2 in the second set, the graduate student reeled off five straight games to take the second set before outlasting his opponent, Nicolas Ocana, 7-5 in the third and final set.  

 

It was important the Lions finished quickly as they are playing at Saint Mary's at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 24.