Men's tennis team falls to Utah State, 5-2

Friday, January 31

Logan, Utah

11:00 AM

Montana

Utah State

Senior Andrew Warren won in three sets Saturday.

1/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Jan. 31, 2014

Don't let the final score fool you -- it was closer than the first glance might display.

The Montana Grizzly men's tennis team lost to the Utah State Aggies in Logan, Utah on Friday afternoon to open its 2014 spring season.

Utah State won the doubles point by sweeping the Griz in all three matchup, but in the singles flights, two Grizzlies were victorious. In the No. 3 singles slot, senior Andrew Warren defeated Utah State's Matt Sweet in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Semion Branzburg earned the team's other victory point in a 6-2, 6-1 straight-set decision over Sean Levesque.

"I'm happy with everyone on our team," Head coach Kris Nord said. "It's a tough loss, because it looks like we didn't push them."

Things could have easily gone the other way. The Aggies won two matches in three sets, including Sebastian Schneider's 10-3 tiebreaker win against Ethan Vaughn, and Dennis Baumgartner's triumph against Mikolaj Caruk, 3-6, 6-5, 6-5. There were 10 match points combined in the No. 1 and No. 5 flights.

"I compare it to a football team getting on the 1-yardline five times and not getting into the endzone," Nord said. "That's what it feels like.

"But we're right where we need to be. We'll just play more matches, sharpen things up and we'll be fine."

The Grizzlies travel to Salt Lake City to take on the Utes on Saturday afternoon.

Montana vs. Utah State
Jan. 31 at Logan, Utah (Sports Academy and Racquet Club)

Singles Results
No. 1 Dennis Baumgartner (USU) def. Mikolaj Carjuk (UM), (3-6, 6-5, 6-5)
No. 2 Marcus Fritz (USU) def. Tomasz Soltyka (UM), (6-4, 6-3)
No. 3 Andrew Warren (UM) def. Matt Sweet (USU), (6-4, 4-6, 6-2)
No. 4 Semion Branzburg (UM) def. Sean Levesque (USU), (6-2, 6-1)
No. 5 Sebastian Schneider (USU) def. Ethan Vaughn (UM) (3-6, 6-5, 1-0 (10-3)
No. 6 Andrew Whiting (USU) def. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM), (6-1, 6-2)

Doubles Results
Dennis Baumgartner/Marcus Fritz (USU) def. Andrew Warren/Semion Branzburg (UM), (6-3)
Matt Sweet/Sebastian Schneider (USU) def. Mikolaj Carjuk/Tomasz Soltyka (UM), (6-4)
Sean Levesque/Andrew Whiting (USU) def. Ethan Vaughn and Zach Drost (UM), (6-3)