Montana
Eastern Washington
Griz defeat Eastern Washington to split road trip
4/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
One day after losing a close match to Idaho, the Grizzly men's tennis team rebounded with a 5-2 win against Eastern Washington outdoors in Cheney Sunday afternoon.
The match, which Montana (8-8/7-3 BSC) coach Kris Nord thought would be moved indoors due to weather, was played outside, which was a challenge for both teams. Nord was happy his team was able to conquer the conditions to get the victory.
"We ended up playing outside, and it was pretty brutal conditions," Nord said. "It was pretty cold and windy. We started an hour later hoping it would get warmer, but it was still a tough win. Eastern is not bad at all and the conditions made it really challenging to play well."
The Griz gutted out the doubles point thanks to a tiebreak victory at No. 1 by Tomasz Soltyka and Peter Mimnagh-Fleming. The Grizzlies had already won at No. 2 and dropped the No. 3 match, putting all the pressure on the top team. Nord knew how important the doubles point was a day after losing a close match.
"I told our guys we needed to go out there and grind it out against these guys," Nord said. "They are a tough team, but we did it. We almost let the doubles point slip, but Peter and Tomasz came through in a tiebreaker to secure it. Semion and Yannick also had a good win at two."
The Griz then took four of the six singles matches on their way to the win. Semion Branzburg clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles. The win improved Branzburg's conference record to an impressive 8-2.
Peter Mimnagh-Fleming picked up a win at No. 3 to push his record to 7-3 in conference, and Victor Casadevall stayed above .500 with a straight set victory at No. 4. He is 6-4 in conference play.
The most consistent point the Grizzlies have received this season has come from the bottom of the line-up, where Yannick Schmidl has accumulated a 9-1 record. Schmidl won his fifth straight match on Sunday.
"He's been real solid," Nord said. "The match he had today, the guy he had to play was tough to play and the conditions were tough, but he hung in there. It's good getting wins down at the bottom of the line-up like that. He and Alex have been on a roll."
Montana guaranteed a spot in the postseason with the win. They are currently in fourth place in the conference with one match, in Bozeman against Montana State, remaining on the schedule. Overall, Nord was happy with the weekend.
"At this point, I'm happy to have a split," Nord said. "I would have rather had a sweep of the road trip, but after playing Idaho and having a long match and travel day yesterday, I was happy with how we came out today."
Montana 5, @ Eastern Washington 2
Cheney, Washington
April 12, 2015
Singles
1. Robert Dula (EWU) def. Tomasz Soltyka (UM) 6-2, 6-1
2. Semion Branzburg (UM) def. Eduardo Martinez (EWU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) def. Vuk Vuckovic (EWU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Victor Casadevall (UM) def. Wacil Bendjelti (EWU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Eduardo Bringold (EWU) def. Alexandr Rudenco (UM) 6-1, 6-4
6. Yannick Schmidl (UM) def. Stefan Farrar (EWU) 7-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. Soltyka/Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) def. Martinez/Dula (EWU) 7-6
2. Branzburg/Schmidl (UM) def. Vuckovic/Bendjelti (EWU) 6-3
3. Bringold/Ness (EWU) def. Casadevall/Rudenco (UM) 7-6
Players Mentioned
