Griz beat Jacks in 4-3 thriller to advance to championship

Friday, April 28

Phoenix, Ariz.

10:00 AM (MT)

Montana

Northern Arizona

Griz beat Jacks in 4-3 thriller to advance to championship

4/28/2017 4:36:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Montana Sports Information

The wins have not come easy for the Montana men's tennis team on the road to the Big Sky tournament this season. But the Griz keep grinding them out, and they are grinding them out at just the right time too.

Fourth-ranked Montana (14-8, 7-4 BSC) upset No. 1 Northern Arizona in a 4-3 thriller in the semifinal of the Big Sky Championship tournament in Phoenix, Ariz., on Friday, handing the Lumberjacks just their second conference loss of the season.

The Griz will now move on to the conference final and will play for a trip to the NCAA tournament against the No. 2 Idaho Vandals on Saturday at 11 a.m. (MT) with truckloads of momentum.

It was the fifth time in 13 league matches this season that the final result has hinged on the last player standing for the Griz.

Montana fell behind early in the match, dropping the doubles point to go down 0-1 heading into the singles round. The Griz then fought back, picking up wins on courts four, six and three to tie the match 3-3.

(4/28/2017) MTEN: vs. NAU - Big Sky SF - 4.28.17

With the semifinal hanging in the balance, junior Yannick Schmidl came through in the clutch, taking a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 comeback win to send UM to the final round for the first time since 2014 when Montana won its first-ever league championship.

"It was a rollercoaster match, but our guys had huge heart, it was fun to watch," said veteran head coach Kris Nord. "NAU served for the win at 5-4, but Yannick fought it back and got ahead. It was one of our better wins in a long, long, time in terms of hanging in there and fighting."

"We did it the hard way after losing the doubles point. A lot of people didn't think we had a shot, except our boys."

Down 0-1 after the doubles and needing to pick up four wins out of six matches in the singles round, the bottom of Montana's lineup once again came up big for the Griz, with Alexander Canellopoulos taking a straight-sets win (6-2, 6-3) on court four to tie the match at 1.

Ignacio Tejerina then put the Griz ahead on court six, taking his 14th win in 15 matches with a 6-1, 6-3 decision over NAU's David Nguyen.

NAU then punched back starting with Big Sky MVP candidate Tim Handel at court one, who worked his way past a battered Victor Casadevall for a 6-4, 6-4 win that tied the score 2-2. Handel improved to 12-0 against Big Sky competition at the No. 1 spot this year.

Ruben Montano then put the Jacks up 3-2 on court five with an improbable comeback win over Grizzly freshman Max Korkh. Korkh rolled to a 5-1 lead in the third set, but Montano took six consecutive games for the come-from-behind win.

Montana's lone senior Peter Mimnagh-Fleming shook off a 2-6 opening-set loss to Sebastian Eguez, edging him 7-5 in the second set before breaking him in the third for a 6-2 victory that tied the score at three and left the match hanging with Schmidl on court two.

"Yannick and Pete hanging on there at the end was absolutely enormous," said Nord. "We started slowly in Pete's match, so it was huge for him to clinch it and put it on Yannick."

With ice in his veins and the pressure on, Schmidl fought back in the third set after tying the match 5-all, taking the next two games to pick up the 7-5 win and sending the Griz into the title match.

"I think he likes that stage, I really do. He figured out how he was going to climb back in that match and win it, and he did," said Nord.

"If I'm going to have one of my guys out there with the match on the line, I'd love to have Yannick. He believes in himself and his team believes in him."

The Griz now move on to face Idaho in the championship match Saturday at 11 a.m. (MT). UM won the Big Sky championship in 2014, while Vandals won it in 2015, and finished second in 2016.

As they were with NAU, Montana will look to even the score against Idaho after the Vandals took a tight 4-3 win in the regular season meeting between the two in Moscow on April 2.

"We're going rest up and get ready for tomorrow because we didn't come here just to get to the final," added Nord. "We want to win."

Live stats of the championship match will be available at the Big Sky's tournament central website.

Tennis Match Results
Montana vs Northern Arizona
Apr 28, 2017 at Phoenix, Ariz.
(Phoenix Tennis Center)

Montana 4, Northern Arizona 3

Singles competition
1. Tim Handel (NAU) def. CASADEVALL, Victor (UM) 6-4, 6-4
2. SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) def. Lucas Taylor (NAU) 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
3. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P. (UM) def. Sebastian Eguez (NAU) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2
4. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) def. Felix Schumann (NAU) 6-2, 6-3
5. Ruben Montano (NAU) def. KORKH, Max (UM) 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
6. TEJERINA, Ignacio (UM) def. David Nguyen (NAU) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. Tim Handel/Ruben Montano (NAU) def. MIMNAGH-FLEMING, P./KORKH, Max (UM) 6-1
2. Sebastian Eguez/Felix Schumann (NAU) vs. SCHMIDL, Yannick/CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) 3-3, unfinished
3. Lucas Taylor/Thomas Fisher (NAU) def. CASADEVALL, Victor/HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) 6-2

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