Griz seek first Big Sky win at home this weekend

UM STATS

The Montana men's tennis team takes to the court at home for the first time this season, hosting North Dakota on Friday afternoon and Idaho on Sunday morning at the PEAK Racquet Club indoor facility in Missoula.

The first ball of the Griz/Fighting Hawks match will be served at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 11, while the Idaho match on March 13 will start early at 10 a.m., allowing fans to take in the action over a morning cup of coffee.

The Griz (1-3, 0-1 BSC) are looking to pick up their first two Big Sky wins of the young spring season. UM kicked off the league season two weeks ago in Flagstaff, Ariz., falling to the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks 2-5.

Dropping two nonconference matches against Utah and Grand Canyon, Montana picked up their first win against traditional rival Montana State 5-2 in Bozeman.

The Grizzlies are currently sitting in tenth on the Big Sky table, with the visiting UND Fighting Hawks below them at 2-10 overall this year, and 0-6 in league play.

Idaho presents the Grizzlies with a stronger test however. At 7-2 overall and 2-1 in league play, the defending Big Sky champion Vandals come to Missoula sitting in third place on the conference table.

Coming off their only bye week of the season, and already facing a light load of matches this spring due to UM's long winter break, the Grizzlies are ready to get back into action following a solid two weeks of practice.

"We have a very talented team. I have a couple guys who are struggling individually with their results, and they know it, and they're busting their butt to do something about it," said Montana head coach Kris Nord. "If we get all six pieces working together, we're a pretty darn good team."

"We don't have that many home events, so I hope our guys are ready to go and maximize it. It's nice not to have to travel, and nice to have some familiarity with the courts, so hopefully we can take advantage of that."

Leading the Griz is senior Semion Branzburg who sits at 2-2, and has picked up UM's only win at No. 1 this season, where he sits 1-2.

Also seeing time at the No. 1 spot for UM is junior Peter Mimnagh-Fleming, who is searching for his first win this season after a solid fall outing.

Always of importance, the doubles point has been one of Montana's strength's this season, with the Alexander Canellopoulos and Yannick Schmidl pair sitting at 3-1 in "dubs" play.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING HAWKS: The Grizzlies went into Grand Forks last season, and came away with a 7-0 sweep of North Dakota. While UND is yet to pick up a win this year, Coach Nord warns his Griz that this is not the same team the Griz beat last year.

"They've really been showing that this year. They've been giving some quality teams tight matches, so my first concern is to get the guys to forget about the history of it and be ready for Friday because they're better."

SCOUTING THE VANDALS: Defending Big Sky Champion Idaho is once again picked to be one of the top teams, selected to finish second in the league this year behind Weber State.

The Vandals were surprised by Northern Colorado in their first Big Sky match of the year, but have since gone on to run over North Dakota 7-0, and edge out Northern Arizona 4-3.

Jackson Varney, who has the best individual record in the conference at 8-1 this season leads Idaho in the singles competition. In doubles, the Vandal pairing of Mark Kovacs and Lucas Coutinho remain undefeated at 6-0, the best mark in the Big Sky.

"They're the defending champs, they have five of six guys back in the lineup, so they're strong," said Coach Nord.

"We just have to go out there and get a little better each time we practice and each time we have a match. If we do that, and focus on the process not looking down the road, we'll be looking good."

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Players Mentioned

Semion Branzburg

Alex Canellopoulos

Peter Mimnagh-Fleming

Yannick Schmidl

University of Montana Athletics