Griz sweep Idaho State 7-0

Saturday, April 2

Chubbuck, Idaho

11:00 AM

Montana

Idaho State *

4/2/2016 7:46:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: gogriz.com

The Montana men's tennis team kicked off an important road trip in pretty much the best way possible on Saturday, blanking Idaho State 7-0 to move to 3-2 in Big Sky play, and 4-6 overall.

The win keeps Montana's postseason hopes alive and gives the Griz a boost of confidence heading into Monday's clash with 7-1 Sacramento State in California, seeking to move into the league's top six teams, and into postseason contention.

In Idaho, the UM/ISU match was moved from Pocatello to nearby Chubbuck, at the Osborn Tennis Complex at Capell Park, but the change of venue didn't affect the Grizzlies' performance.

While expecting his team to put out a solid performance against the Bengals, not many would have picked the Griz to clean up 7-0 on the road.

"I was expecting a 4-3, or 5-2 type of match, and it was closer than the final score," says Montana head coach Kris Nord. "They're a pretty salty team. They fought real well."

Montana clinched the doubles point to start the match, with Victor Casadevall and Peter Mimnagh-Fleming picking up a 6-2 win at No. 2, followed by a win for Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos at No. 1 to clinch the point.

Idaho State claimed their only win of the day in the No. 3 doubles match, with Semion Branzburg and Petar Barcot battling in a 6-4 loss to ISU's Francis Filipovich/Haseeb Khan duo, but the dubs point already belonged to the Griz.

"We started off a little slow in doubles but pulled out the point, and I really liked our guys fight in the singles," added Nord. "It was a good day."

Casadevall extended his win streak to seven, picking up the first victory of the day for Montana in the singles competition in the No. 5 spot, cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over ISU's Josh Goodwin.

Despite being sick all week, Canellopoulos battled his way to a tight 7-6, 6-3 win over Bjorn Scheepbouwer at the No. 4 spot.

Branzburg had to battle through the only extra set match of the day, beating ISU's Sebastian Edin 6-4, 3-6, and finishing with a come from behind 10-8 win in the third set.

Schmidl picked up his fourth Big Sky win in five matches, fighting to a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Francis Filipovich at No. 3.

"I think our guys are playing with a little more match toughness," says Nord. "Our goal was to be playing our best tennis by April so we can make conference. I feel like we're headed in that direction."

Montana gets an opportunity to pull of something of an upset on Monday, traveling to take on Sac State, who lost their first match of the Big Sky season on Saturday at Northern Arizona.

After Monday's match in Sacramento, the Griz return home for the first of four-straight home matches. UM hosts Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington to close out spring break on April 8 and 9, before hosting Portland State and Montana State the following week.

Montana 7, Idaho State 0

Singles competition
1. BRANZBURG, Semion (UM) def. Sebastian Edin (ISU) 6-4, 3-6, 10-8
2. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P. (UM) def. William Edin (ISU) 6-4, 7-5
3. SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) def. Francis Filipovich (ISU) 7-6, 6-3
4. CANELLOPOLOS, A. (UM) def. Bjorn Scheepbouwer (ISU) 7-6, 6-3
5. CASADEVALL, Victor (UM) def. Josh Goodwin (ISU) 6-3, 6-1
6. SOLTYKA, Tomasz (UM) def. Haseeb Khan (ISU) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. SCHMIDL, Yannick/CANELLOPOLOS, A. (UM) def. Sebastian Edin/Bjorn Scheepbouwer (ISU) 6-4
2. CASADEVALL, Victor/MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P. (UM) def. William Edin/Josh Goodwin (ISU) 6-2
3. Francis Filipovich/Haseeb Khan (ISU) def. BRANZBURG, Semion/BARCOT, Petar (UM) 6-4

Match Notes:
Montana 4-6, 3-2 BSC
Idaho State 6-9, 2-4 BSC

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