Saturday, April 16
Missoula, Mont.
1:00 PM
Montana
6
vs
1
Portland State *
Griz punch ticket to conference tourney with 6-1 win over PSU
4/16/2016 7:34:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The Montana men's tennis team needed to pull a single win out of this weekend's two-match home stretch in order for the Griz to qualify for the Big Sky Conference postseason tournament.
With a 6-1 win over Portland State on Saturday, UM (8-6, 7-2 BSC) ticked that box and will now be on their way to Sacramento to play for a conference championship in two weeks time.
The win also gives the Grizzlies their fifth-straight victory, and sixth Big Sky win on-the-trot.
Though a 6-1 win looks good on paper, the Griz were once again made to fight for the important victory over the Vikings, starting with a doubles point that came down a tiebreaker in the third match before the point was decided.
"They (PSU) were fighting for their lives to go to conference too, so getting the doubles point was enormous, and we got a little lucky again, but I'll take it," said Montana head coach Kris Nord.
Seniors Semion Branzburg and Tomasz Soltyka breezed through the No. 3 doubles match 6-1, but in the No. 2 match, the Vikings' Cochrane/Risenhoover pair came back from a 4-2 deficit to defeat the UM pair of Victor Casadevall and Peter Mimnagh-Fleming 7-6 (2) in a tiebreaker. The momentum of the match shifted, putting pressure on the No. 1 duo of Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos to clinch the point for the Griz.
The duo found themselves in a battle at 5-5, and had the match on the line, down 40-love. They then stormed back to force the tiebreaker and eventually moved on to the 7-6 (2) win.
The Schmidl/Canellopoulos pair improves to a league-best 7-0 at the No. 1 doubles position, remaining undefeated in Big Sky play.
"We went from looking like we were gong to get out of here with a doubles point fairly handily to fighting for our lives," said Coach Nord. "Alex and Yannick really played tough when they got down."
With the doubles point in hand and the momentum back on the Montana side of the court, the Singles matches were finished off in fairly short order, including a lightning-quick 6-1, 6-2 win for Canellopoulos over PSU's Wil Cochrane on the No. 4 court.
"I asked him to be the first off the court and he did it, which was awesome because if he's focused, he's tough to beat," said Nord of the freshman from Greece.
On the No. 1 court, Branzburg was once again in a dogfight to put the Griz up 7-0 against one of the Big Sky's top singles players, Nathan Boniel, who came to Missoula with an 18-1 record this season.
Branzburg took Boniel to a tiebreaker in the third set, diving for loose balls and putting some miraculous shots down, before eventually falling to the visitor 6-4, 1-6, 7-6.
"It was a team effort across the board," said Coach Nord. "It isn't always pretty, but we fight, and that breeds some ugly wins, but we'll take ugly wins."
The Griz have won their way into the Big Sky tournament, but the question that remains is: what seed will the Griz earn in the tourney?
To answer that question, Montana will face Montana State in a Brawl of the Wild showdown Sunday at noon, followed by a single-match trip to Utah to face the league-leading Weber State Wildcats. A pair of wins could potentially see the Griz through to a top-two finish on the league table.
As if the Griz/Cat rivalry needed more on the line, a Brawl of the Wild point will be up-for-grabs to the winner of Sunday's match as well.
Sunday is also Senior Day, when the Griz tennis program will say goodbye to Branzburg and Soltyka, a pair of seniors who helped guide the program to the Big Sky Championship in 2014. Both earned all-Big Sky honors that season, with Branzburg following up with his second all-conference first team selection in 2015.
Sunday's Griz/Cat matchup is set to start at noon at the Lindsay Tennis Center on the UM campus.
Singles competition
1. Nathan Boniel (PSU) def. Semion Branzburg (UM) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6
2. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) def. Ethan Lopez (PSU) 6-3, 7-6 (2)
3. Yannick Schmidl (UM) def. Brent Wheeler (PSU) 7-5, 6-2
4. Alex Canellopoulos (UM) def. Wil Cochrane (PSU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Victor Casadevall (UM) def. Ian Risenhoover (PSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Tomasz Soltyka (UM) def. Russell Risenhoover (PSU) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Yannick Schmidl / Alex Canellopoulos (UM) def. Brent Wheeler / Ethan Lopez (PSU) 7-6 (5)
2. Wil Cochrane / Ian Risenhoover (PSU) def. Victor Casadevall / Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) 7-6 (2)
3. Semion Branzburg / Tomasz Soltyka (UM) def. Nathan Boniel / Russell Risenhoover (PSU) 6-1
Order of finish:
Singles: 4, 6, 5, 3, 2, 1
Doubles: 3, 2, 1
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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