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GOLD RIVER, Calif. — In a contest that ended near midnight, Portland was victorious in all six singles matches on the way to a 6-1 victory over Sacramento State in the first round of the Golden State Men's Tennis Invitational on Friday evening at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center.

The inaugural eight-team tournament, which is co-hosted by Sacramento State and UC Davis, was originally scheduled to take place on the the campus of both Sacramento State and UC Davis. Instead, all three days of the tournament (Friday through Sunday) have been moved indoors to the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center because of rains that have hit the area.

The Hornets and Pilots' match did not start until 8:30 p.m. and ended a little before midnight. Sacramento State advances to play the loser of the other evening match between Saint Mary's and UT Arlington tomorrow at 7 p.m. Portland will play the winner of that match tomorrow at 7 p.m. For the complete tournament schedule, click here to see the Golden State Invitational home page.

With the loss, Sacramento State dropped to 3-10, and the Hornets will play one match on both Saturday and Sunday as part of tournament play. Portland won its third straight while improving to 8-4.

The Hornets started off well, taking the doubles point with relative ease as the duos of Mikus Losbergs and Kasparas Zemaitelis won convincingly at No. 1 doubles by a 6-2 score. The No 3 team of Uli Vollath and Christopher Clayton won their match, 6-3, and the Hornets were able to start the match with a 1-0 advantage.

However, that lead was short lived as the Pilots ran off six unanswered points, sweeping all six matches of the singles draw. Portland won convincingly at Nos. 2-6 singles while Losbergs nearly beat Mike Pervolarakis at No. 1. However, Losbergs eventually fell to Pervolarakis, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2.

Sacramento State is now 0-10 in non-conference play, and 3-0 when playing a Big Sky Conference opponent.