Griz face tough test at Utah

After taking a 7-0 win over Lewis-Clark State to open its season last week, the true litmus test of this year's Montana men's tennis team comes this weekend in Salt Lake City, when the Griz will square off against the Pac-12's Utah Utes.

Montana (1-0) will play the strongest opponent they will see all year on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the George S. Eccles Tennis Center, facing a Utes squad that is off to a 9-1 start, sitting second in the Pac-12 standings, and is loaded with a trio of nationally ranked players.

"Utah is a tough place to play. They are a well-coached team and a tough group of competitors. We're going in with high expectations, focusing on our performance, and seeing what we need to work on going into the conference season," said Interim Head Coach Jason Brown.

"It's all about gathering information right now and finding out what our strengths and weaknesses are individually and as a team."

Despite playing in the Pac-12, the Griz and Utes are fairly familiar with one another, playing dual matches every year since at least 2011, and coming across each other several times during fall tournaments.

This year, the Griz own a 3-2 lead over the Utes in matches played at the ITA Mountain Regional Tournament in the fall of 2017.

"We've been talking all week about belief," says Brown. "They're a level higher than we are, but I don't feel it's a match where we can't push them in a lot of spots. If we snuck out of there with a victory, I wouldn't be shocked."

In the singles rounds at the Mountain Regional, UM's Victor Casadevall picked up a 6-3, 6-2 win over Utah sophomore Slava Shainyan and eventually fell to the previously-ranked David Micevski in the quarterfinal in a three-set thriller. That quarterfinal appearance was the best finish ever for a Grizzly at the regional tourney.

Alexander Canellopoulos also picked up a win over Utah at regionals, defeating Santiago Sierra in three sets. Ignacio Tejerina also picked up a three-set win over Utah's Joe Wolley the tournament's No. 20 seed.

In doubles, UM's All-Big Sky duo of Canellopoulos and Yannick Schmidl also got a win over Utah's Sierra/Hankulieyev pair, 8-7.

Based on Utah's prior results this spring, the Griz will also gain a better understanding of what the competition around the Big Sky looks like as UM sets out to return to the league championship.

The Utes are currently 5-0 against Big Sky teams, taking 7-0 wins over Montana State, Idaho State, Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado. The only Big Sky team to pick up wins over the Utes was Weber State, who dropped a 5-2 decision to Utah after winning the doubles point and taking a three-set win on court six over the Ute's Joe Wolley.

"Playing Utah helps us to see where we actually stand. It's a really high level of tennis, and we'll find out where we need to improve," said Casadevall.

Utah is led by junior Dan Little who is currently ranked No. 122 in the nation, and the freshman doubles pair of Randy Coy and Russell Benkaim, who come in ranked No. 56 in the nation.

It will also be a special day for Utes tennis when UM visits on Saturday. Utah will be hosting Tommy Tough Day, where the men and women will play simultaneously at 5:30 p.m. at the eight-court Eccles Center facility. The proceeds from the event will go towards the Child Heart Disease research and families. With free food, autographs, a silent auction and more, a large turnout is expected, giving the Griz a taste of collegiate tennis at its highest levels.

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Players Mentioned

Alex Canellopoulos

Victor Casadevall

Yannick Schmidl

Ignacio Tejerina

University of Montana Athletics