Vandals take come-from-behind win over Griz

Sunday, April 2

Moscow, Idaho

3:00 PM (MT)

Montana

Idaho

4/2/2017 8:47:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team jumped out to an early lead with a win in the doubles round in an important Big Sky dual at Idaho on Sunday, but the Vandals bounced back early in the singles and staved off a late Griz comeback to win the match 4-3.

The loss puts the Griz at 3-3 in Big Sky play (8-7 overall), while the highly-touted Vandals improve to 6-2 in league play and 11-6 overall. And despite the loss, the effort UM laid out at the indoor courts at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, left a positive taste in head coach Kris Nord's mouth.

"We had so many good comebacks today, both in singles and in doubles, that I was happy with how our guys competed. I really was," said Nord. "Idaho is good, and we fought hard across the board."

Montana's dynamic duo of Alex Canellopoulos and Yannick Schmidl got UM's doubles effort underway with a solid 6-2 win on court two. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming and Max Korkh sealed the doubles point on court one, coming from behind to take a tiebreaker 7-6 (10-8) to give UM the 1-0 team lead.

Canellopoulos continued the Grizzlies' good form in the first match of the singles round, taking a 6-3, 6-4 win on court four to put UM up 2-0.

Mimnagh-Fleming was on the verge of putting Montana up 3-0 on court three, coming back to force a tiebreaker in the second set, but running out of steam against Idaho's Carlos Neto, falling 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

On court one, Schmidl fought back after a first set loss to take the second set 6-4, forcing a third set that he pushed to a tiebreaker before eventually falling 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1). The win for Idaho's Mark Kovacs tied the overall match at 2-2.

The Vandals then took their first lead of the day on court two when UM's Victor Casadevell fell to Felipe Fonseca in a three-set grinder 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

Idaho took advantage of the momentum and sealed the match with its fourth-straight win, this time on court five when Esteban Santibanez defeated UM's Max Korkh 6-3, 6-4.

"We fought at all positions, and that's what we needed to do. We could have played better in places, and that's going to happen, but the fight across the board was good," said Nord.

"Walking into the match, we said we have to show them our grit, and that's what's going to make us a better team. Even though we lost, I feel like we'll build off this match and take it into Friday."

Montana returns to Missoula for its first home match in over a month on Friday, hosting a strong Sacramento State team on April 7 at 2 p.m.

Tennis Match Results
Montana vs Idaho
Apr 02, 2017 at Lewiston, Idaho

Idaho 4, Montana 3

Singles competition
1. Kovacs, Mark (UI) def. SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1)
2. Fonseca, Felipe (UI) def. CASADEVALL, Victor (UM) 6-3, 5-7, 7-5
3. Longhi Neto, Carlos (UI) def. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P. (UM) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
4. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) def. Coutinho,Lucas (UI) 6-3, 6-4
5. Santibanez, Esteban (UI) def. KORKH, Max (UM) 6-3, 6-4
6. TEJERINA, Ignacio (UM) def. Scarpelli, Guilherme (UI) 2-6, 6-2, 10-7

Doubles competition
1. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P./KORKH, Max (UM) def. Kovacs, Mark/Longhi Neto, Carlos (UI) 7-6 (10-8)
2. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex/SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) def. Coutinho,Lucas/Scarpelli, Guilherme (UI) 6-2
3. Fonseca, Felipe/Santibanez, Esteban (UI) def. CASADEVALL, Victor/HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) 7-6 (7-2)

Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,3,1,2,5,6)