Griz in need of single win for postseason berth

Last Saturday, Griz tennis senior Semion Branzburg found himself in a dogfight with Eastern Washington's Victor Pereira in the No. 1 singles match. As the two battled back and forth and contested every decision, it was clear a gut check was in order if Branzburg was going to win the match.

"Haya!" "Let's go!" "Haya!"

To give himself focus, Branzburg, a native of Ashdod, Israel (just south of Tel Aviv) could be heard from all over the court repeating "Haya!" between each point. With every competitive muscle in his body firing, the line between speaking English and Hebrew dissolved as he willed his way to a 6-4, 6-4 win.

"Haya, it sort of means animal, you know. Stay in the moment, now, now, now," says Branzburg of the Hebrew colloquialism. "One of my coaches that passed away when I was younger, he was always saying that, and people always associate this word with him. So it was something that has stuck in my head and I always carry it with me.

"I was working with my sports psychologist when I was younger and I use it to give myself feedback. It tells me: stay in the moment, think about the next point, or let's go, let's go, pumping myself up."

Branzburg had channeled deep memories from all his years playing tennis, and applied them toward grinding out a win for the Griz. Haya is in many ways a microcosm of the Montana men's tennis season thus far: players digging deep to grind out a four-match win streak, and a five-match Big Sky win streak.

"We have really good fight all the way through, and that will take you a long way," says UM head coach Kris Nord.

"We've been winning some ugly singles matches, and you don't always have your best tennis out there. We've got to learn how to win when we've got our B or our C tennis. There's ways to do it, and our guys have done a really good job of digging in and working real hard in singles, so I'm really impressed with that. The fight is there."

The Grizzlies (7-6, 6-2 BSC) will need to dig deep and bring the fight this weekend, as the Big Sky Conference season reaches its most critical juncture for UM. The Griz need just a single win over either Portland State on Saturday, or Montana State on Sunday to clinch a spot in the conference postseason tournament, comprised of only the league's top-six teams.

THE CHALLENGE AHEAD

Montana faces the Vikings (11-9, 5-6 BSC) on Saturday at 1 p.m., most likely at the Lindsay Tennis Center on the UM campus if the weather forecast holds (if rain creeps in, the match will be moved to the PEAK racquet club). PSU comes to Missoula after dropping Friday's match to Montana State 4-0 in Bozeman.

The Griz then square off against in-state rival Montana State (6-10, 6-3 BSC) on Sunday at noon at the Lindsay Tennis Center (pending weather). Not only is it possible that a trip to the Big Sky postseason tourney could be on the line against the Cats, a Brawl of the Wild series point will be on offer as well. Montana has already clinched the 2015-16 Brawl of the Wild series with a current 9-4 lead over MSU, and only four more points up for the taking.

If Montana beats either PSU or MSU, they are assured a trip to the postseason tourney. If the Griz fall in both matches this weekend they are not out of contention, but with only a single road match against the league-leading Weber State Wildcats remaining, it's not a position the Griz will want to be in.

The importance of this weekend's matches is not lost on Coach Nord.

"We have not even clinched a spot at conference. I like where we're at, but we've done nothing, and we have to go beat Portland State to assure ourselves of going.

"We need to take the approach that we have a lot of work left to do. I wasn't as dazzled by our tennis as I was in California, so I hope we get back on track."

The Grizzlies sit at No. 3 on the Big Sky table, with Portland State and Montana State all pushing for one of the two remaining tournament spots. Weber Sate sits in first at 8-0, while Idaho, Northern Arizona and Sacramento State have each booked their ticket to the tourney.

KEYS TO THE MATCES

Doubles has been a major focus for Coach Nord this season, and the Griz have been somewhat inconsistent in securing the point in the last two matches.

"We're winning doubles matches that I don't think we should be winning," says Nord. "It sounds strange but I don't think we're playing classic doubles."

When Nord analyses his team, he sees the potential to play aggressive, take-the-net style doubles, but wants to find a blend with players who stay back.

"We're going to stress smarter serving, making returns and moving better. That's really the key for us for doubles. And we can do it."

Montana's doubles team of Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos have been one of the shining lights for the Griz, leading the Big Sky at No. 1 dubs with an unblemished 9-0 record.

The Victor Casadevall/Peter Mimnagh-Fleming pairing at No. 2 is equally hot right now, blowing past Eastern Washington's Vuckovic/Bringold pair 6-0 for their league-best third-straight victory.

In singles, Casadevall continues to be one of the league's top performers, riding a 10-match win streak, and sitting at No. 4 on the Big Sky's top overall performers list with a 11-2 record this season.

The Spanish sophomore is undefeated in league play, sitting in first place on the No. 5 conference table.

Portland State boasts one of the top players in the Big Sky in Nathan Boniel, who at 17-1, carries the league's best overall record.

For Branzburg though, it's all about Haya, and keeping the energy high.

"I think that's the most important thing to take into this weekend, the energy. It has to be really high. When you play with energy and you enjoy what you do, the results will come too, and that's what we've seen lately."

Action against the Vikings from the Lindsay Tennis Center gets underway at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and noon on Sunday against Montana State. Fans can follow @UMGRIZZLIES_TN on Twitter for live pairing information and results.

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Players Mentioned

Semion Branzburg

Alex Canellopoulos

Victor Casadevall

Peter Mimnagh-Fleming

Yannick Schmidl

University of Montana Athletics