Griz start strong, falter in singles in loss at UNC

Friday, February 10

Greeley, Colo.

2:00 PM

Montana

Northern Colorado

Griz start strong, falter in singles in loss at UNC

2/10/2017 10:34:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Men's Tennis team got off to a promising start in its opening Big Sky Conference match by winning the doubles point to take an early lead against Northern Colorado in Greeley on Friday.

But the Bears stormed back to sweep the bottom five courts in the singles lineup to defeat the Griz 5-2, putting UM on the back foot at 0-1 in league play and 2-1 overall.

"We played great doubles, but then we had some guys lower their level when things got tight, that's what it came down to," said Montana head coach Kris Nord.

"We had chances, but the bottom line is that Northern Colorado outfought us, and had a little more heart than we did."

Montana jumped out to an early lead, taking the doubles point in short order on the No. 2 and No. 3 courts with senior Peter Mimnagh-Fleming and Max Korkh beating UNC's Pease/King duo 6-3 on court two.

UM's Victor Casadevall and Ignacio Tejerina duo beat the Bear's Finerty/Lombardi pair 6-2 soon after to clinch the point in under 30 minutes.

That's where the highlights ended for the Griz, as singles decisions began to fall the way of UNC.

"We didn't handle getting the lead very well," Nord added. "In the singles, we had ample opportunities in most every match, but we got the lead, and when it got tight, we didn't execute,"

Montana's losses in the singles competition weren't for lack of effort, with the Griz forcing four of the six matches into three sets or more.

For the second week in a row, Yannick Schmidl continued his solid playing on the No. 1 court by beating Connor Finerty in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 for UM's only win of the day in singles.

Mimnagh-Fleming came back from a first set loss to UNC's Kyle Pease to win the second set but eventually fell in the tiebreaker on the No. 2 court, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Casadevall lost his first Big Sky Conference match in over a year, falling to Alex Vakouftsis on the No. 3 court, 6-4, 6-2 after suffering an injury against Lewis-Clark State last week.

On court four, Alex Canellopoulos needed extra tennis in two sets to force a decision, pushing UNC's Hayden Cramer to the brink in a three-set loss, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Montana freshman Max Korkh also forced extra sets before UNC's Agustin Lombardi sealed the win in the third, 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(7).

Grizzly newcomer "Nacho" Tejerina, a junior from Union College (Ky.), got his first taste of Big Sky action on the No. 6 court, taking the first set 6-0, but dropping the last two 6-4, 6-4.

Montana will look to right the ship on Sunday in Grand Forks, North Dakota, at 8 a.m. (MT), seeking their first Big Sky Conference victory against the winless Fighting Hawks.

"We had better stay focused point to point, or we're going to have another miserable day," said Nord.

"We're good enough to challenge good teams, but if we don't play well, watch out."

Doubles