Griz depth to be tested at Eastern Washington

A week after the postseason tournament seemed to be in doubt for the Montana men's tennis team, the fifth place Griz now hit the road this weekend with a chance to cement a spot near the top of the league table, facing second place Eastern Washington in Cheney at 4 p.m. (MT).

Montana (10-7, 5-3 BSC) heads to EWU with plenty of momentum on the heels of a two-match sweep of Sacramento State and Idaho State, who, at the time were both ranked ahead of UM in the standings.

But after starting the conference season at 6-0, the Eagles enter Saturday's match heading in the opposite direction, having dropped two-straight to NAU (0-7), and Idaho (6-1).

Both the Vandals and Lumberjacks have claimed wins over UM this season, but were both 4-3 decisions. But Montana head coach Kris Nord says it's not an "apples to apples" comparison.

"I think those losses probably motivates them more," said Nord. "They went from undefeated to having a couple of sound defeats, and that worries me. They'll be more than ready for us, but I think they would be anyway. It just seems Eastern and Montanan have a good rivalry going in all sports, and men's tennis is the same."

Eastern Washington may be down, but they are by no means out. Robert Dula leads a deep Eagles squad, entering the match ranked as the No. 19 player in the Northwest Region at 9-5 in singles this season.

But the Griz will look to Junior Yannick Schmidl to answer the challenge, with Schmidl having already defeated Dula 6-3, 6-4, at Gonzaga's Bulldog Classic in the fall.

"Yannick will have his hands full, but Yannick has played him and beat him in the past. I think he's got the style of game that can give him some problems, but that's a huge challenge at one," said Nord.

Nord says Schmidl's matchup with Dula is even more important because the Griz will be forced to play without the services of team leader Victor Casadevall, who has played in the No. 1 position for UM in six of the last seven matches.

Casadevall will miss Saturday's match after suffering an ankle injury against Idaho State last week, putting Montana's depth to the test at Eastern.

"We have our hands full over there. I'm hoping we're outside, and I'm hoping our guys rise to the challenge of moving up a spot in the lineup across the board."

With Montana's depth being tested in the absence of Casadevall, the doubles point will be increasingly important, where a win could put the Griz out to a 1-0 lead and get the momentum rolling in the right direction. Luckily Montana has won four-straight doubles points heading to Eastern.

"Winning the doubles point is going to be massive, as always, and we've been good in the doubles recently, which has made a huge difference," said senior Peter Mimnagh-Fleming.

"We get to test out our squad depth as well, see how the guys at seven and eight have been doing all year, and that will be important for us."

In Casadevall's absence, sophomore Jacob Schoenherr and freshman Ludvig Hallgren will get the opportunity to show how their games have developed as they enter the bottom of the lineup.

Hallgren has seen the bulk of his action on the doubles court as of late, pairing with Casadevall to go 4-2 in the last six finished matches on court three, while Schoenherr has been used sparingly, with his last action coming at UNLV during the spring break trip to the desert.

"We talk about this all the time. Guys at seven and eight showing up and practicing hard and practicing as if they're going to be in the lineup, and now we'll see if that message has gotten through," said Nord.

"I think both Ludvig and Jacob are ready to go if I put either one of them in the singles. I have confidence, but it's going to be a tough matchup across the board."

Montana faces another tough match next week in the annual "Brawl of the Wild" showdown in Bozeman on April 21 before capping the season at home on April 23 against Weber state.

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Players Mentioned

Victor Casadevall

Ludvig Hallgren

Peter Mimnagh-Fleming

Yannick Schmidl

Jacob Schoenherr

University of Montana Athletics