Griz travel to Weber with sights on top-two finish

What a difference a week makes.

Seven days ago, the Montana Grizzlies men's tennis squad (9-6, 8-2 Big Sky) was preparing to start a two-match home stand against Portland State and Montana State, not sure if they would be making a trip to the Big Sky Conference postseason tournament.

Fast forward a week: the Griz have earned that spot in the postseason and head coach Kris Nord is preparing his charges for the team's final regular season match that could give Montana a share of the regular season conference championship.

While UM knows they will be traveling to Gold River, California, for the Big Sky tourney, seeding for that tournament is still up in the air.

This weekend the No. 3 Griz will head to Utah to face the league's No. 1 Weber State Wildcats on Sunday at 11 a.m. seeking, not only a share of the conference title, but a crucial first round bye at the postseason tournament as one of the top two finishers.

The No. 2 Idaho Vandals (8-2 BSC) threw a spanner in the works last week, handing Weber their first conference loss of the season. Should the Griz win in Ogden, a three-way tie for first could appear, and UM would get a top-two finish with Weber having lost to both Montana and Idaho.

The format at the league tourney sees the No. 3 seed face the No. 6 seed, and the No. 4 plays the No. 5 seed on Friday, while the No. 1 and 2 seeds earn a day of rest and play Saturday, with the championship held Sunday.

"Not many teams have come through a lower seed and played three straight days," says Coach Nord. "We've come close twice, and we've run out of gas in the championship match twice by having to play a lot of tennis on Friday and Saturday,"

The prospect of a top-two seed and an extra day off puts extra weight on Sunday's match at Weber State and Coach Nord wouldn't want it any other way.

"We're right where we want to be. I'm really pleased with the guys and how they've handled March and April for the most part. We've had a few hiccups and that's normal," says the 34-year UM coaching veteran.

"We'll be fine, it's just a matter of how fresh the bodies are and how we handle the nerves. Even though its the end of the season, I know they're going to be a little more excited because you're playing for a championship. It'll be fun."

Since losing 4-3 to Idaho back on March 13, the Griz have been on a tear in Big Sky play, rattling off seven-straight conference wins to wind up in a position to claim a share of the title.

Much of Montana's success has come in the doubles competition, which the Griz have clinched in all eight of their conference victories this season. The doubles point provides a shot of momentum to the arm of the winning side heading into the singles, where the Griz have lost only one match per outing in six of their last eight league matches.

Securing the 1-0 advantage with the doubles point will be crucial for the Griz against the Wildcats.

"The dubs point is enormous," says Nord. "It sets the tone for the entire match, and they're very deep like we are in their lineup where whoever has to go win four singles is going to be hard pressed.

"So, it will start with the dubs and I'm going to ask the guys to put the same amount of fight into the singles they put into their singles the last three months."

Leading the charge in the doubles competition for the Griz is the Yannick Schmidl / Alexander Canellopoulos pair, who sit on top of the league table with an unblemished 11-0 record on the No. 1 court.

Also on top of the league table on the No. 3 court is the senior duo of Semion Branzburg and Tomasz Soltyka, who have been on a roll, taking five-straight wins.

In singles, Montana has relied on the consistent excellence from the middle of its six-man lineup, led by Victor Casadevall at No. 5, who travels to Ogden riding a 12-match win streak, and sits at 13-2 overall this season.

Casadevall is currently ranked as the No. 4 overall singles players in the Big Sky, and the league's No. 1 player on court five. In conference-only matches, the sophomore Spaniard is tied for first in the league in singles play at a perfect 10-0.

Quietly putting together other important wins for the Griz is Soltyka at No. 6, who is on a seven-game Big Sky winning streak in the singles.

Racking up strings of wins means that momentum is on the side of the Grizzlies as they get set to take on Weber, setting up an epic showdown with a familiar opponent.

"We know each other real well," says Nord. "They've had this current group forever, they've been one or two in the conference every year, and that group of seniors has been really close to winning the title and they haven't. So I know they're motivated."

Montana will be keying on two-time Big Sky player of the week Stefan Cooper, a sophomore who leads WSU on the No. 2 singles court, sitting at 14-4. Cooper also leads the way for the Wildcats at No. 1 doubles with his partner Sanjay Goswami, to have teamed up for a 12-5 record.

SCHEDULE NOTE: Montana's match with Weber was originally scheduled for Saturday, April 23, but due to facilities issues, the match has been bumped to Sunday morning, April 24, with an 11 a.m. start time.

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Players Mentioned

Semion Branzburg

Alex Canellopoulos

Victor Casadevall

Yannick Schmidl

Tomasz Soltyka

University of Montana Athletics