Montana
Portland
Montana loses close 5-2 match to Portland
3/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 18, 2012
The Grizzly men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought, 5-2 match to the University of Portland at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center in Portland.
The Pilots (10-2) have won three straight matches while Montana (5-4, 1-0 BSC) won their first match the weekend Saturday over Portland State.
Montana's two points came at the No. 5 and No. 6 six singles. Ethan Vaughnbeat Justin Guay 1-6, 6-4, 10-7 for his second singles win of the weekend. Andreas Ludzak also claimed his second singles victory in the Rose City with a win over Ratan Gill at the No. 6.
The match was closer than the score appeared, three of the other four matches went into three sets. Only Mikolaj Carukwas defeated in straight sets at the No. 2, he lost 6-4, 6-3 but even his match was close.
"We battled at every spot," Coach Kris Nordsaid. "Even though Mikolaj lost his match in straight sets he didn't make it easy for his opponent."
Vaughn also teamed up with Timo Gehrkefor the lone doubles win of the match for Montana. The duo won the No. 2 match over Geoff Hernandez and Stefan Mikov.
Nord, while disappointed with the loss recognizes the improvement over last weekend's shutout losses to Boise State and Cal Poly teams with similar talent and records. The Griz also had their full roster with the return of Caruk.
"Portland is in the same category with BSU and Cal Poly," Nord said. "The difference from this Sunday and last weekend was the fight we saw it at positions."
The Grizzlies will have a similar trip next week. Montana heads to Arizona to meet Grand Canyon in Phoenix on Saturday then head to Flagstaff for their second Big Sky Conference match at Northern Arizona (4-8, 1-2 BSC).
The Griz are tied for first in the loss column for the conference race with Eastern Washington (9-5, 3-0 BSC), Sacramento State (3-8, 2-0 BSC) and Montana State (6-7, 1-0 BSC). Weber State (5-6, 3-1 BSC) and Idaho State (4-7, 3-1 BSC) are right on the heels of the top teams. Only four teams make the Big Sky Conference tournament.
Montana 2, Portland 5
Singles
MIKOV, Stefan def. Kuschke, Carl 6-0, 3-6, 6-2
HERNANDEZ, Geoff def. Caruk, Mikolaj 6-4, 6-3
HU KWO, Michel def. Warren, Andrew 6-7, 6-2, 6-1
FERRERO, Alex def. Facey, Michael 6-3, 5-7, 10-7
Vaughn, Ethan def. GUAY, Justin 1-6, 6-4, 10-7
Luczak, Andreas def. GILL, Ratan 6-2, 6-7, 10-7
Doubles
FERRERO, Alex and HU KWO, Michel def. Caruk, Mikolaj and Warren, Andrew 8-5
Vaughn, Ethan and Gehrke, Timo def. HERNANDEZ, Geoff and MIKOV, Stefan 9-7
GUAY, Justin and COELHO, Daniel def. Kuschke, Carl and DeMarois, Ben 8-2
Match Notes
Montana (5-4,1-0 BSC)
Portland (10-2, 1-0 WCC)
Players Mentioned
