Montana
Weber State
Griz fall to undefeated Wildcats
4/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 5, 2014
The Montana Grizzlies men's tennis team suffered its first Big Sky Conference loss of the season on Saturday evening, losing to Weber State 5-2 at Ogden, Utah.
The match was slated to start at noon Mountain Time, but the match moved indoors due to weather, and doubles play started around 3 p.m. Weber State, which improved to 8-0 in conference matches, won the doubles point and secured four singles victories.
"It was a real momentum loss to not get the doubles point," Nord said. "And they're very tough here on their home court, so we knew winning four singles matches would be hard, and it was. They're a strong team, and there's a reason that they're undefeated."
At No. 1 doubles, Semion Branzburg and Ethan Vaughn won a close 8-7 (7-6) contest over Oliver Good and Sanjay Goswami. In the other two doubles flights, Weber State players claimed two narrow wins -- an 8-7 (7-4) win at No. 2 and an 8-6 victory at No. 3.
"Right now they're strong," Nord added. "We have to play a lot better if we want to beat these guys.
"They don't really have a soft spot in the lineup. We didn't play too badly, but they're just a strong team and talented throughout the lineup. It's kind of how I feel we are as a team, it's like playing ourselves. They played better than us today."
Grizzly netters in the bottom half of the lineup played well in Ogden, winning at both the No. 4 and No. 5 slots. Sophomore Tomasz Soltyka won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 singles, while Ethan Vaughn earned UM it's second point, defeating Landon Barlow in three sets at No. 5 singles.
"I watched a lot of Ethan's match, and he had a tough three-setter," Nord said. "And then Tomasz just took care of business, but Weber handled us at the other spots."
The match against Weber marked day eleven of a twelve day road trip.
"It's definitely not the reason we lost this match," Nord said of the long travel days. "Right now I'm more worried about Idaho State being the last game of the trip. I'm hoping our guys can re-charge and go out there ready to play. I'm really challenging the guys to let this one go and go out there tomorrow ready to play."
The Griz battle the Bengals at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Pocatello, Idaho.
Weber State 5, Montana 2
Saturday, April 5 at Ogden, Utah (Ogden Athletic Club)
Doubles results
No. 1 Semion Branzburg/Ethan Vaughn (UM) def. Oliver Good/Sanjay Goswami (WSU) 8-7 (7-6)
No. 2 Jakub Gewert/Todd Fought (WSU) def. Mikolaj Caruk/Tomasz Soltyka (UM) 8-7 (7-4)
No. 3 Caio Poitena/Landon Barlow (WSU) def. Andrew Warren/Ethan Vaughn (UM) (8-6)
Singles results
No. 1 Jakub Gewert (WSU) def. Mikolaj Caruk (UM) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
No. 2 Todd Fought (WSU) def. Warren (UM) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
No. 3 Oliver Good (WSU) def. Semion Branzburg (UM) 6-4, 6-3
No. 4 Tomasz Soltyka (UM) def. Caio Poitena (WSU) 6-3, 6-3
No. 5 Ethan Vaughn (UM) def. Landon Barlow (WSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
No. 6 Sanjay Goswami (WSU) def. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2
Match notes
Montana: 6-10, 4-1 BSC
Weber State: 12-9, 8-0 BSC
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,3,4,1,2,5)
Players Mentioned
