Korkh clinches 4-3 win for Griz on the road

Saturday, April 15

Cheney, Wash.

4:00 PM (MT)

Montana

Eastern Washington

4/15/2017 9:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

Despite missing their number one player due to injury, the Montana men's tennis team made a big statement in the Big Sky on Saturday, knocking off No. 2 Eastern Washington 4-3 with a come-from-behind victory in Cheney.

Montana's third-straight win bumps them up to No. 4 in the conference standings with a 6-3 league record (11-7 overall), while the Eagle's third-straight loss drops them to No. 6 on the conference table with a 6-4 Big Sky record (11-9 overall).

With only the top six teams in the league advancing to the championship tournament in Phoenix at the end of the month, head coach Kris Nord says Saturday's win goes a long way toward booking a ticket.

"That's a good team we just beat, and without one of our studs, it's a really good win on the road. I'm impressed with our heart and our fight. We had ample chances to go away from there with a 5-2 or 4-3 loss," said Nord.

"We haven't clinched a spot yet, but we're a lot closer than we were this morning."

The Grizzlies fell behind early in the match, dropping the doubles point with losses on court one and two, putting UM down 0-1 heading into the singles round needing four wins to leave Cheney with a team victory.

The Griz then went out and did just that, taking wins on courts two, five and six to tie the match 3-3.

In the absence of Victor Casadevall, the bottom of the Grizzly roster responded well with Ludvig Hallgren entering the lineup for the first time in Big Sky play, taking a straight-sets win on court six, 6-1, 6-3.

Ignacio Tejerina bumped up to court five and didn't miss a beat, taking his eighth-straight Big Sky singles win, 7-5, 6-4.

"Nacho and Ludvig were awesome. They won in straight sets against good players, and that put the pressure back on Eastern. Pete (Mimnagh-Fleming) played great as well. We had really good fight across the board in singles," said Nord.

But the player of the day for the Griz undoubtedly went to true freshman Max Korkh, who sealed the team win on court four with an epic back-and-forth battle with EWU's Flavien Raveau.

With the match hanging in the balance, Korkh found himself down a set after falling 3-6 in the first. The British Columbia native then started a monster fight-back to take a 7-5 win in the second after trailing early in the set, and a marathon 7-6 (10-8) tiebreaker in the third set to win the match for the Griz.

"Oh man, it was our most stressful match in about ten years," said a relieved Nord following the win.

"I think we literally had four match points against us, and four or five match points for us until we finally won the tiebreaker, 10-8. Max hung in like a champ and pulled it off. It was huge."

Korkh's match winner gives the Grizzlies momentum heading into their final road test of the season next week in Bozeman against Montana State (5-13, 4-4 BSC) in the annual Brawl of the Wild match on Friday, April 21 at 1 p.m.

With Casadevall's status for that still to be determined, the Grizzlies have proven they can gut out the wins on the road without him.

"These guys don't surprise me, they've been fighting their butts off over the last month, and winning this one is even more special being on the road and hanging in there like that," said Nord. "I just hope we can keep it going into Bozeman on Friday."

Tennis Match Results
Montana vs Eastern Washington
Apr 15, 2017 at Eastern Washington University

Montana 4, Eastern Washington 3

Singles competition
1. DULA, Robert (EWU) def. SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) 6-3, 6-4
2. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P. (UM) def. PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) 6-0, 6-2
3. PAZ, Scott (EWU) def. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
4. KORKH, Max (UM) def. RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-8)
5. TEJERINA, Ignacio (UM) def. BENDJELTI, Wacil (EWU) 7-5, 6-4
6. HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) def. ALMEIDA, Ricardo (EWU) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. DULA, Robert/PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) def. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P./KORKH, Max (UM) 6-3
2. PAZ, Scott/RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) def. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex/SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) 6-1
3. HALLGREN, Ludvig/TEJERINA, Ignacio (UM) def. ALMEIDA, Ricardo/BENDJELTI, Wacil (EWU) 6-4