Griz topple Vikings 7-0

Saturday, March 17

Portland, Ore.

1:00 PM

Montana

Portland State

3/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

March 17, 2012

The Montana men's tennis team won their first Big Sky Conference match Saturday in a 7-0 road win over Portland State.

The Grizzlies (5-3, 1-0 BSC) broke a two match losing streak while PSU (2-12, 0-6) has lost five straight.

Portland State doesn't have many wins on the season but coach Kris Nordknows that they have talent and was excited with the outcome.

"Portland State has given a lot of teams some struggles," he said. "The guys really showed up and played, it's going to build some confidence and help us going forward."

Another big development for the Grizzlies was the return of Sophomore Mikolaj Carukwho was out for three weeks after he had an emergency appendectomy.

Caruk was stellar in his return. He teamed up with junior Andrew Warrento win their doubles match 8-3 over Roman Margoulis and Nick Fracchia.

Caruk also won a marathon of singles match in the No. 2 over Mitch Sumach 6-3, 5-6, 10-8.

"Miko played very well in his doubles match," Nord said. "Considering he has been out for three weeks he did a great job. His singles match was very tough but he just hung in there to get the point."

Warren also hung in for a tough, three-set win over Abhinav Mishra in the No. 3 1-6, 6-4, 10-6.

"Andrew's guy came out just blazing," Nord said. "We need to work on him getting out of the block a little quicker but he stayed in it to get the win."

The rest of the team made quick work of their singles opponents, each winning in straight sets.

"Everyone else just put the hammer down," Nord said. "It was a great bonus to get all seven points."

The Griz will make the most of the trip to the Rose City. Montana will face the University of Portland at 9:30 a.m. Sunday before returning to Missoula right after the match.

The Pilots (9-2) are a strong team but Nord thinks that Saturday's win will give the team some confidence.

"We have got our hands full if we don't go out and play up to our ability," Nord said. "If we get everyone dialed in its going to be a fun match."

Box Score

Montana 7, Portland State 0

March 17, 2012 at Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows)

Single Competition

1. Kuschke, Carl(UM) def. MARGOULIS, Roman (PSU) 6-4, 6-1

2. Caruk, Mikolaj(UM) def. SUMACH, Mitch (PSU) 6-3, 5-7, 10-8

3. Warren, Andrew(UM) def. MISHRA, Abhinav (PSU) 1-6,6-4, 10-6

4. Facey, Michael(UM) def. LUBECK, Zach (PSU) 6-3,6-3

5. Vaughn, Ethan(UM) def. MARX, Alec (PSU) 6-3, 6-4

6. Luczak, Andreas(UM) def. FRACCHIA, Nick (PSU) 6-3, 6-4