Griz embark on tough road trip in need of wins

The Montana men's tennis team enters the business end of the Big Sky Conference season this weekend, traveling to face Idaho State on Saturday, April 2, then making a spring break trip to Sacramento State for a Monday, April 4, showdown with the league's top team.

The Griz are taking a must win attitude with them to Pocatello, fighting to position themselves for a place in the league's postseason tournament where only the top-six teams compete.

Montana is currently knocking on the door to the top-six, sitting at No. 7 on the conference table at 3-6 (2-2 BSC). Below UM at No. 8 is Idaho State, carrying a 6-8 (2-3 BSC) record and also on the hunt for a spot in the top-six.

The Grizzlies enter this weekend's matches following a 7-0 whitewash of Southern Utah last week, proceeded by a pair of strong performances against two of the top teams in the Mountain West Conference in New Mexico and UNLV. The Griz will need to harness that momentum this weekend to help keep postseason play in front of them.

"The biggie is to just go beat Idaho State on Saturday. That's our total focus," said Montana head coach Kris Nord. "It keeps our postseason hopes alive. We really have to have it. It's as simple as that. There's too much parity in our conference otherwise."

Luckily for Coach Nord and the Griz, the team has seen steady improvement from positions one through six, including strong play from the middle of the lineup, namely Victor Casadevall, who ran through last week's SUU/Mountain West road trip undefeated at 3-0.

"We know the Big Sky is really tough and we're going to have to earn our spot in the conference tournament. So these two games are vital for us," says the sophomore Spaniard.

Casadevall is riding a six-game win streak heading into this important road trip, and has picked up singles victories in eight of his last 12 matches, including the six-match run. He's currently the fourth-ranked overall singles leader in the Big Sky with a .778 win percentage.

"I'm just feeling very confident on the court. Even if I'm not feeling very well about my stroke, I'm still confident I'll win, added Casadevall. "I just try to play smart at important points in important games."

Also looking strong for this young Griz squad is sophomore Yannick Schmidl, winner of five of his last eight matches.

Montana will face Idaho State at 11 a.m. on Saturday at Capell Park in Chubbuck, Idaho, before heading to Sacramento for the team's biggest challenge of the conference season thus far.

Sac State is currently on top of the Big Sky table, tied with Weber State at 6-0 in conference play (8-11 overall). The Griz will have to face the Hornets' Kasparas Zemaitelis, a sophomore from Kaunas, Lithuania, who is the Big Sky's reigning player of the week after going 4-0, and helping keep the Hornets undefeated in league play.

The action in the California state capital gets underway at 2 p.m. MT on Monday, April 4.

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Players Mentioned

Victor Casadevall

Yannick Schmidl

University of Montana Athletics