Montana
Montana State
Griz rally to knock off Bobcats 4-3
3/4/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
March 4, 2013
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Trailing 3-2 the Montana men's tennis team got singles victories from freshman Semion Branzburg and junior Eric Braun to rally back for a 4-3 victory over Montana State Sunday afternoon at The Peak Racquet Club in Missoula.
It was the second victory of the season for Montana and came after a 7-0 loss to No. 57 Idaho on Saturday.
Montana (2-4) and Montana State (8-6) won't play their official Big Sky Conference match until mid-April in Bozeman, but that didn't take any of the edge off Sunday's nonconference meeting.
"This one didn't count in the standings, but we still looked at it as a big match," UM coach Kris Nord said.
Montana took a 1-0 lead after convincing doubles victories at Nos. 1 and 3. Mikolaj Caruk and Andrew Warren won at No. 1, 8-3, and Branzburg and Braun won at No. 3, 8-4.
"We got the doubles point, which, based on the rest of Montana State's lineup, I felt we really needed," Nord said.
Warren put the Grizzlies up 2-0 with a quick 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles, but the Bobcats stormed back to take a 3-2 advantage with straight-set victories at Nos. 1, 3 and 4.
That left Branzburg facing MSU's Harry James at No. 5 singles and Braun playing Prithiv Sivasubramaniam at No. 6.
Branzburg won first, 6-4, 6-4, but only after making a big comeback in the opening set.
"My freshman from Israel was down 0-3, 15-40, about to go down 0-4 in the first set, and things were looking bleak at that point, but Semion made a comeback to make it 3-1, then ended up winning the set 6-4. He kept his poise," Nord said.
With the team score tied 3-3, all eyes turned to Braun. He won a tense tiebreaker in the first set, then won 6-4 in the second to give Montana the win.
"In my mind Eric had the toughest matchup," Nord said. "Prithiv has been there three years, and he's a veteran who's won a lot of matches for them. Being their No. 5 or 6 player, he's been in that position a lot, and this was Eric's first time.
"I was really happy for those guys at 5 and 6 to come through under a lot of pressure. I loved putting those guys in that situation and seeing them both come through and have a victory that is going to help their confidence."
With most of its nonconference matches done, Montana will now face Big Sky Conference opponents in nine of its final 10 regular-season matches, starting March 15 and 17 at North Dakota and Northern Colorado.
Montana 4, Montana State 3
March 3, 2013 at Missoula, Mont. (The Peak Racquet Club)
Singles competition
1. Brandes, Niklas (MSU) def. Caruk, Mikolaj (UM) 6-4, 6-1
2. Warren, Andrew (UM) def. Martin-Morales, Javi (MSU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Schleuter, Markus (MSU) def. Facey, Michael (UM) 7-6, 6-2
4. Campos, Diego (MSU) def. Vaughn, Ethan (UM) 6-1, 6-1
5. Branzburg, Semion (UM) def. James, Harry (MSU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Braun, Eric (UM) def. Sivasubramaniam, P. (MSU) 7-6, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Caruk, Mikolaj/Warren, Andrew (UM) def. Brandes, Niklas/Campos, Diego (MSU) 8-3
2. Martin-Morales, Javi/Schleuter, Markus (MSU) def. Facey, Michael/Vaughn, Ethan (UM) 8-4
3. Branzburg, Semion/Braun, Eric (UM) def. James, Harry/Sivasubramaniam, P. (MSU) 8-4
Match Notes
Montana State: 8-6
Montana: 2-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,4,1,3,5,6)
Players Mentioned
