Griz cruise to a straight-sets win over Radford

Monday, March 6

Missoula, Mont.

4:00 PM

Montana

Radford

3/6/2017 9:27:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team made quick work of the visiting Radford Highlanders in a nonconference match at the PEAK Racquet Club in Missoula on Monday afternoon, sweeping the match 4-0 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

The win gives the Grizzlies (6-3, 2-2 BSC) a 2-1 split of the week's home matches, and starts Radford's week-long tour of the Northwest off with a loss, putting the visitors from the Big South Conference at 1-5 on the season.

"Radford is a good, quality team," said UM assistant coach Jason Brown. "Our guys had great energy, and everybody competed really well across the board."

"It was a great way to spend a Monday evening, as opposed to just another night of practice. It was important for our guys to see new faces across from them and to have to figure things out as we went."

Montana jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the match by clinching the doubles point with two-straight wins.

Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos continued their solid doubles season, knocking off Radford's Varga/Sala pair 6-2 on court No. 2 early in the match.

Montana true freshman Ludvig Hallgren got his first doubles start of the season, pairing up with junior standout Victor Casadevall on the No. 3 court. The first-time duo ground-out a 6-4 win over the Thoen/Taylor pair to put UM up 1-0.

"That was Ludvig's first action in doubles of the season, and he came out and played really well," added Brown. "It gave our team a spark of energy to see a freshman play that well."

Montana showed no signs of slowing down once the singles round got underway, with senior Peter Mimnagh-Fleming dominating Carlos Sala 6-1, 6-2 on court No. 3.

"Pete tore through his opponent to put us up 2-0. He really showed some senior leadership and got after it," said Brown.

Casadevall then picked up his fourth-straight singles win, facing no problems against Alexandros Caldwell on court No. 2 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Max Korkh, Montana's other true freshman, then clinched the match for the Griz with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Janken Thoen on court No. 4. Korkh continued his much-improved play this spring, picking up his fourth singles win in the past six matches.

"Max played big boy tennis today," said Brown. "His serves were big, his forehand was big, and his opponent was good too. He stepped up," Brown added.

With a solid nonconference tune-up under their belts, the Grizzlies now turn their attention to 2016 Big Sky MVP Nathan Boniel and the Portland State Vikings in a crucial league match on March 10 in Oregon.

Tennis Match Results
Radford vs Montana
March 06, 2017 at Missoula, Mont.
(PEAK Racquet Club)

Montana 4, Radford 0

Singles competition
1. MAGALHAES, Rodrigo (RAD) vs. SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) no result
2. CASADEVALL, Victor (UM) def. CALDWELL, Alexandros (RAD) 6-4, 6-2
3. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P. (UM) def. SALA, Carlos (RAD) 6-1, 6-2
4. KORKH, Max (UM) def. THOEN, Janken (RAD) 7-5, 6-3
5. VARGA, Matko (RAD) vs. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) no result
6. TAYLOR, Samuel (RAD) vs. TEJERINA, Ignacio (UM) no result

Doubles competition
1. MAGALHAES, Rodrigo/CALDWELL, Alexandros (RAD) vs. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P./KORKH, Max (UM) no result
2. SCHMIDL, Yannick/CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) def. VARGA, Matko/SALA, Carlos (RAD) 6-2
3. CASADEVALL, Victor/HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) def. THOEN, Janken/TAYLOR, Samuel (RAD) 6-4

Match Notes:
Radford 1-5, 0-1 Big South
Montana 6-3, 2-2 BSC