Grizzly comeback falls short against Idaho

Sunday, March 13

Missoula, Mont.

10:00 AM

Montana

Idaho *

3/13/2016 3:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

The fate of Sunday's Big Sky tennis match hung in the air until the third set of the final singles match, but Montana's comeback attempt fell just short, losing 4-3 to Idaho in Missoula.

Tomasz Soltyka went on a furious rally in the second set of the No. 5 singles match, coming back from down a break in the second set and winning four straight games to force a third set.

At the same time, Victor Casadevall closed out the No. 6 match in impressive fashion, 6-2, 6-2. Casadevall's win earned Montana their third straight point and brought them even after falling behind 3-0.

That left the match in the hands of Soltyka and Idaho's Mark Kovacs. Soltyka had the crowd in PEAK fired up after his comeback from a break down in the second set. In the third set, he fell behind a break again early.

(3/13/2016) MTennis: vs. Idaho (3.13.16)

This time he didn't have the energy to rally another comeback, dropping the final set 6-3 to decide the match. Coach Kris Nord was happy with the effort from his No. 5 player, but thought the match could have already been decided.

"We had a really good fight from Tomasz in that last match, but I told the guys it shouldn't have come down to that match," Nord said. "We allowed that to happen by coming out flat in doubles, it's probably our weakest doubles performance that I've seen."

The Vandals won the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches early to claim the point, but that didn't stop a great competition for the No. 1 double's team.

Montana's team of Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos came back from down a break to force a seven-point tiebreak against Varney/Vasheshnikov. The two teams both had multiple match points as the match stretched well past the seven-point mark.

The home-court advantage helped out Montana, as Schmidl and Canellopoulos rallied for a big 11-9 win in the tiebreak.

The Vandals opened up with the first two points of the singles competition with convincing wins at No. 2 and 3. The Grizzlies comeback started with a win at No. 1, where Peter Mimnagh-Fleming edged out Odon Barta 6-4, 7-5.

Schmidl carried his doubles momentum into singles play, where he defeated Vasheshnikov in two sets. He won the first set in a tiebreak before running away in the second with a 6-1 victory to get Montana's second point.

Casadevall tied the match up with his win at the same time as Soltyka entered the third set. The momentum was all the way in favor of Montana.

"Momentum is a funny thing," Nord said. "I knew we had a chance, but I also knew the start of the third set with Tomasz was crucial and to give a break away early, that's kind of digging yourself a hole. There are a lot of momentum swings, it's a matter of taking advantage when it's going your way and fighting it out when it's not."

The loss at home hurts, but there were some solid performances in the singles competition.

"I was happy with the singles play," Nord said. "Peter had a great win at No. 1, that's a great comeback and great effort. Victor has been rock-solid at No. 6, so it's encouraging, but that doesn't do us much good in the conference standings."

Montana now has 11 days off. They will return to action on March 24 against Southern Utah.

"We have some work to do, but I'm encouraged," Nord said. "It's just going to be really tight to get to conference this year, there are a lot of good teams."

Montana 3, Idaho 4

Singles
1.) Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) def. Odon Barta (UI) 6-4, 7-5
2.) Felipe Fonseca (UI) def. Semion Branzburg (UM) 6-2, 6-2
3.) Jackson Varney (UI) def. Alexander Canellopoulos (UM) 6-3, 6-4
4.) Yannick Schmidl (UM) def. Artem Vasheshnikov 7-6 (4), 6-1
5.) Mark Kovacs (UI) def. Tomasz Soltyka (UM) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
6.) Victor Casadevall def. Lucas Coutinho (UI) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles
1.) Schmidl/Canellopoulos (UM) def. Varney/Vasheshnikov (UI) 7-6 (11-9)
2.) Barta/Fonseca (UI) def. Branzburg/Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) 6-3
3.) Kovacs/Coutinho (UI) def. Casadevall/Soltyka (UM) 6-3

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