Griz complete 2011-12 roster with Swedish import
7/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
July 21, 2011
The University of Montana men's tennis team finalized its 2011-12 roster this week with the addition of Andreas Luczak of Lund, Sweden. Luczak signed a National Letter of Intent recently and will join the Grizzlies this fall as a freshman.
Thirtieth-year Griz tennis coach Kris Nord will go into the fall tournament season with 12 players on his roster. Ten of the players are returners. Luczak and freshman Sam Jankovich, who signed a National Letter of Intent last November, are the team's lone newcomers.
Nord was turned on to Luczak (WOO-chick) by a friend in the business, New Mexico coach Alan Dils.
"Alan is not one of the coaches who is constantly throwing players your way, so when he told me about Andreas I gave his videotape a serious look," Nord said.
"He's a strong player who is powerful in all aspects of the game: serve, ground strokes, movement and a few things that you can't coach. He comes in with the full package.
"I think he'll be a good fit for us."
Montana has two spots to fill in its one-through-six singles lineup with the loss of Josh Smith and David Cysneiros.
Smith played exclusively at No. 2 singles last spring, earning second-team All-Big Sky Conference honors.
Cysneiros played mainly at No. 6.
Among the team's returners are senior Carl Kuschke, a three-time All-Big Sky performer, juniors Michael Facey and Andrew Warren and sophomore Mikolaj Caruk.
Kuschke earned his second straight first-team All-Big Sky selection last spring after posting a 10-8 record at No. 1 singles.
Facey played at No. 3, Caruk mostly at No. 4 and Warren at No. 5, as Montana went 12-8 during the spring dual season. The Grizzlies tied for second in the Big Sky at 6-2.
Caruk went 11-7 in singles and 13-5 in doubles to earn second-team All-Big Sky honors.
"Between Mikolaj and Andreas joining us, we've got two really young, athletic kids who can potentially play high in the lineup by their junior and senior years," Nord said.
"In Andreas's first year, we're hoping he's top four in singles and in the doubles lineup. He's talented enough to come in and make an impact right away as a freshman.
"We're going to miss Josh and David, but this is a good group of guys, and we'll have Carl back to lead us from a performance standpoint and also in the weight room and classroom.
"We won't really know that much about the team until the fall season ends in November, but I'm excited about this group."
Montana will play in four fall tournaments, though the dates and location of those tournaments have yet to be finalized.
Players Mentioned
