Montana
Grand Canyon
Montana drops D-II Lopes
3/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 24, 2012
The Griz men's tennis team swept the doubles matches and split the singles competition on the way to a 4-3 win over 15th-ranked (D-II) Grand Canyon Lopes Saturday afternoon.
Montana (6-4, 1-0 BSC) got wins in the 1, 5, and 6 positions, Grand Canyon (9-6) got matches at the 2, 3 and 4 spots.
Carl Kuschke had swept Stephane Murray 6-2, 6-3 to for the win in the No. 1 spot and teamed up Ben DeMaroisfor the 8-2 win at the No. 3 doubles.
Coach Kris Nordbelieves this may have been a high mark on the season for the doubles performance.
"Our guys played great doubles," Nord said. "Carl and Ben were very good, overall it was the best doubles day we've had."
GCU is a Division II program but they are no slouches and the Lopes had some extra motivation Saturday.
"They had some talented players," Nord said. "This was their last home match of the year so it was senior day and they also played with a lot of emotion."
Montana also had to deal with something that they haven't had to deal with to this point in the season.
"Playing outside in the sun was something that the guys have to get used to," Nord said. "The weather in Missoula has kept us from playing outside and it hasn't been anywhere near the 90 degrees the guys played in today."
Andreas Luczakalso played strong in the No. 6 defeating Ahmad Saleem in straight sets 7-5, 6-0.
"Andreas has been on a real roll the last couple of weeks," Nord said. "He is finally healthy and it is showing in his consistency."
The Grizzlies will play their second match of the Arizona trip Sunday afternoon when they meet conference foe Northern Arizona in the thin air at 7,000 feet.
Just a week ago the Griz were playing just a few dozen feet above sea level at Portland State. The Griz now face high altitude where the ball moves much quicker and conditioning may be a factor.
"With our conference we go from near sea level at Portland State and Sacramento State to 7,000 feet at Northern Arizona," Nord said.
The Jacks are coming off a 4-3 loss to Montana State Saturday
The NAU match is the first of three straight conference matches for Montana, a stretch that will be important for the Grizzlies' Big Sky conference tournament chances.
"Our season hinges on the next four matches," Nord said. "It starts in Flagstaff and then we have Idaho State and Weber State to look forward to."
Montana 4, # 15 Grand Canyon 3
March 24, 2012 at Glendale, AZ (Paseo Racquet Center)
Singles competition
1. Kuschke, Carl (UM) def. MURRAY, Stephane (GCU) 6-2, 6-3
2. SCHOELZEL, Frederic (GCU) def. Caruk, Mikolaj (UM) 6-2, 6-0
3. GIRALDI, Patrice (GCU) def. Warren, Andrew (UM) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. KAZIANSCHUETZ, Peter (GCU) def. Facey, Michael (UM) 3-6, 7-6, 10-1
5. Vaughn, Ethan (UM) def. TONUS, Bastian (GCU) 6-4, 7-5
6. Luczak, Andreas (UM) def. SALEEM, Ahmad (GCU) 7-5 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Caruk, Mikolaj and Warren, Andrew (UM) def. SCHOELZEL, Frederic and MURRAY, Stephane (GCU) 8-5
2. Facey, Michael and Vaughn, Ethan (UM) def. GIRALDI, Patrice and KAZIANSCHUETZ, Peter (GCU) 8-3
3. Kuschke, Carl and DeMarois, Ben (UM) def. SALEEM, Ahmad and ANDRSON, Kevin (GCU) 8-2
Match Notes
Montana 6-4, D-1
Grand Canyon 9-6, D-II
Players Mentioned
