Griz drop Big Sky opener at NAU

Sunday, February 28

Flagstaff, Ariz.

10:00 AM

Montana

Northern Arizona *

Photo by: Todd Goodrich

2/28/2016 2:56:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: gogriz.com

The Montana men's tennis squad dropped its opening match of the Big Sky Conference season, falling to Northern Arizona 5-2 on Sunday morning in Flagstaff.

After wining the first match of the doubles point, the Griz lost two straight, giving NAU the 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

Alexander Canellopoulos and Victor Casadevall picked up wins at the three and six spots for UM in the singles, but it was not enough to overcome the slow start.

"We had a very good chance to win the doubles point," said Montana head coach Kris Nord. "We won at one fairly handily, and we had a couple tough losses at two and three. That momentum shift really hurt us. We went out, I don't want to say flat, but tight, knowing we had to do better in singles."

Montana (1-3, 0-1 BSC) dropped its second match of this week's road trip to Arizona, falling to Grand Canyon 4-3 on Thursday.

Northern Arizona (4-6, 1-1 BSC) picks up its first Big Sky win, after falling to Portland State 6-1 on Feb. 6 in Portland.

After losing the doubles point, the Griz dropped three-straight singles points at the one, five and two spots before Canellopoulos and Casadevall rattled off two straight wins, but at that point the match had already been clinched for the Lumberjacks.

The Grizzlies dropped the first set in all four of their singles losses, forcing UM to play from behind.

"We've got a couple things to work on, mainly in the singles right now, but we're not far off," added Coach Nord. "I told the guys, it's a long season and there is lots of tennis left. It's more just a message of 'get a little bit better each week of practice' or we're going to be spectators come the end of the season."

Northern Arizona also upset the Grizzlies in the opening round of last year's Big Sky Conference tournament.

Next up: The Grizzlies will see their first action at home in two weeks time, as UM hosts North Dakota on March 11, followed by Idaho on March 13 in Missoula.

Montana lineup at NAU

1) Semion Branzburg
2) Peter Mimnagh-Fleming
3) Alexander Canellopoulos
4) Yannick Schmidl
5) Tomasz Soltyka
6) Victor Casadevall

Doubles Results
1. Schmidl/Canellopoulos (UM) def. Handel/Montano (NAU), 6-2
2. Peleg/Taylor (NAU) def. Branzburg/Mimnagh-Fleming (UM), 7-5
3. Lee/Schumann (NAU) def. Soltyka/Casadevall (UM), 6-3

Singles Results
1. Tim Handel (NAU) def. Semion Branzburg (UM), 6-2, 6-2
2. Lucas Taylor (NAU) def. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM), 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
3: Alexander Canellopoulos (UM) def. Eden Peleg (NAU), 7-6, 7-6
4: Felix Schumann (NAU) def. Yannick Schmidl (UM), 6-7, 6-4, 11-9
5: Ruben Montano (NAU) def. Tomasz Soltyka (UM), 6-3, 7-5
6. Victor Casadevall (UM) def. Jackson Lee (NAU) 7-6, 4-6, 10-0

Order of finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (1,5,2,3,6,4)