MTEN | Gaels Finish Regular Season Against Pilots, Zags

Saint Mary's will wrap up their regular season this week at home as they host Portland and Gonzaga.

MORAGA, Calif. — The Gaels will close out their regular season with two matches this week against Portland and Gonzaga. Saturday's contest against the Zags will also be Senior Day where Saint Mary's will honor the team's two seniors, Brian Lee and Daniel Krutik.

ABOUT PORTLAND
The Pilots are 7-11 this season and 2-4 in conference action. Portland has been on a hot streak of late, winning two of their past three matches and took two points from Pepperdine. Away from their home courts, the Pilots are 1-8 with their lone victory coming against San Francisco.

UP is led by Sema Pankin who has played all but one match as the Pilots' No. 1 singles competitor and is 9-6 in that slot. Teammate Eleftherios Neos is tied with Pankin with 10 wins this spring with most of his matches coming as the team's No. 4. Pankin and Neos have also teamed up to go 3-1 as the team's top doubles' tandem.

Portland has been without one of their best players this spring, Carlos Donat, who went 12-4 during fall tournaments. Last season, the Pilots defeated the Gaels in Portland, 5-0.

ABOUT GONZAGA
The Zags are 14-6 this year and 5-1 in WCC play but will take on Pacific before coming to Moraga. Gonzaga are 5-1 over their past six matches although and each of their previous four have been decided with the seventh and final point.

Sam Feit is the Bulldogs' top singles player as he's accumulated a 14-5 record this spring while splitting his matches between the top and second slot. Vincent Rettke is an impressive 12-2 as the team's No. 4 and Kyle Everly has a combined 13-7 record mainly as the Zags' No. 3.

Feit and Ruadhan O'Sullivan have been a dynamic top pairing this season going 12-4 as the top duo but Gonzaga is just 16-19 among their other pairings.

LAST TIME OUT
Saint Mary's snapped their four-match skid with a resounding 4-2 win over the Tigers last Saturday.

The Gaels (4-14, 2-5 WCC) clinched the doubles point with wins from the team's No. 1 and 3 tandems. David Abfalter and Daniel Krutik won the first set of the day with a 6-4 decision and Boris Reckow and James Watt sealed the point by battling to a 7-6 win as the Gaels' No. 1.

After Reckow earned the first singles match point on Court 6, Pacific (4-14, 1-5 WCC) battled back with two wins from their No. 2 and 3 to tie the score, 2-2. Saint Mary's wouldn't ceed another match however and picked up big wins from Watt and Krutik on Courts 1 and 5, respectively, to cement the victory. Watt had to fight into the third set against Philip Hjorth and took it 6-2 while Krutik won a competitive second set, 7-5, to complete the win for Saint Mary's.

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