Doubles finalists highlight strong Griz performance at Gonzaga

Friday, October 28

Spokane, Wash.

All Day

Montana

Bulldog Classic

Doubles finalists highlight strong Griz performance at Gonzaga

10/31/2016 1:26:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

COMPLETE RESULTS

Montana head men's tennis coach Kris Nord wanted his team to end the fall season on a high note at Gonzaga's Bulldog Classic over the weekend, and put out the team's best performances to date.

The Griz did that and much more, placing a doubles team in the championship match, another in the semifinal, five different quarterfinalists in the singles competition, and a singles consolation bracket champion.

"I was happy with how our guys competed across the board, both in the main draw and the back draw," said Nord. "We won some matches that were tough, we pushed some good opponents, and showed some good fight out there. That's going to be important for us. We need to have six guys fighting it out till the end."

After three long days of competition at GU's Stevens Tennis Center in Spokane, Montana came away with six doubles wins, highlighted by the dynamic duo of Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos playing for the tournament championship. The Peter Mimnagh-Fleming and Victor Casadevall pair also reached the doubles semifinal before falling to the eventual champions from Idaho.

Montana's most impressive performance of the week came in the doubles with Canellopoulos and Schmidl defeating Eastern Washington's Dula/Paz pair in the semifinal before pushing Idaho's Kovacks/Neto pair in an 8-4 loss in the championship.

The four-match run was made even more impressive due to the fact Canellopoulos was battling the flu, withdrawing from the singles competition all together to save his energy for the doubles.

In addition to his final round run in the doubles, Schmidl reached the quarterfinals in singles as well, earning a second round upset over the 2015 Big Sky Conference Player of the Year Robert Dula of EWU, who was named to the 2016 all-conference first team despite missing half the year with an injury.

"Yannick had a ridiculous day beating Doula in straight sets," added Nord. "It doesn't completely shock me because Yannick has that kind of mentality where he loves to play somebody that others think he shouldn't match up with. He likes the big stage.

"It wasn't a fluke either. He went out and had a great game plan, played very aggressive, and pulled it off."

In the A and B singles draws, Montana picked up ten total wins with Casadevall and Schmidl reaching the quarters in the A draw. Casadevall, Montana's most accomplished player this fall, also reached the quarterfinal round of the singles A draw before falling to eventual finalist Ruadhan O'Sullivan of Gonzaga in two sets.

Peter Mimnagh-Fleming, the Grizzlies' lone senior, also picked up a win in the first round of the singles A bracket before falling to the eventual tournament winner Nathan Boniel of Portland State in the second round in a three-set thriller, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

In the B draw, two newcomers and a sophomore made the quarterfinals as well. First year Griz Ignacio Tejerina and Ludvig Hallgren each picked up two wins, as did sophomore Jacob Schoenherr.

"Jacob and Ludvig got some nice wins, which was good because if we have a number seven or eight playing with confidence, they have to be able to come in and win some matches, and they both showed me they could do that."

In the consolation singles draw Montana freshman Max Korkh strung together four-straight victories, taking the bracket championship over Portland State's Majeed Bukhari 6-0, 6-3 in the final.

"It was good to see him get going and get some confidence from that, said Nord. "He needs to be part of the mix for doubles and singles for us, so his performance was real encouraging."

With the best performance of the fall season under their belts, the Grizzlies now focus on the details with a month worth of individual work before the team breaks for winter ahead of the spring season.

"I like what happened in Vegas and Boise, but we're going the right direction, and that's all I've asked is baby steps of improvement," says Nord. "Now we have to keep that motto rolling through the offseason and over the holiday where we lose them for over a month. We have to keep working hard."

Montana opens the spring duals season with a nonconference bout against Lewis-Clark State in Missoula on Feb. 4, before getting Big Sky Conference play under way at Northern Colorado and North Dakota the following week.