Griz put up fight in loss to UNLV

Wednesday, March 7

Las Vegas, Nev.

5 PM (MT)

Montana

UNLV

3/7/2018 8:42:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team played a strong hand in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, but the chips didn't fall the Grizzlies' way as the UNLV Rebels defended their home courts 4-0 over UM in nonconference action.

Montana came out firing in the doubles round, with Max Korkh and Ludvig Hallgren taking a 3-0 lead on court three, and Ignacio Tejerina and Victor Casadevall building a 5-4 lead on court two.

But the UM lead wouldn't hold, and UNLV bounced back on court one to defeat Montana's #77 ranked pair of Yannick Schmidl and Alexander Canellopoulos 6-4 and Korkh and Hallgren's lead slipped away for a 6-4 loss to give the Rebels the crucial doubles point. Tejerina & Casadevall's match would then be called with the Griz pair leading 5-4. UNLV rode that momentum to victory in the singles round.

"We had them in doubles and let them off the hook. That probably would have changed the whole thing," said Interim Head Coach Jason Brown.

"I thought Nacho and Victor played absolutely outstanding doubles. UNLV's No. 2 team is solid, and they were just fantastic," said Brown of the pair who held the 5-4 lead when the point was clinched. "Our overall level of play was so much higher than it has been. I was super happy with the way we played, we just didn't finish."

In the singles, UNLV's Alex Cozbinov - the No. 89 player in the nation - overpowered UM's Victor Casadevall 6-3, 6-0 to put the home team up 2-0, needing just two more wins to clinch the match.

UNLV then took a 3-0 lead on court five, when Ludvig Hallgren fell in straight sets to Jordan Sauer 6-2, 6-4.

The Rebels sealed the win on court two when Canellopoulos dropped a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Courtney Lock on court two, the first time this season he's played up on the second court all season.

The loss drops the Griz to 2-2 on the season, with the only two losses coming from Pac-12 and Mountain West opponents.

Despite the loss, the Griz take away plenty of positives as conference play nears.

"I think the level across the board was much improved. Our tennis is getting better, and that's our goal. I thought everyone competed really hard," Brown added.

UM gets the chance to test itself against a team from the Mid-American conference tomorrow in Las Vegas, as the Ball State Cardinals and Griz meet in a neutral-site matchup at UNLV.

Tennis Match Results
Montana vs UNLV
Mar 07, 2018 at Las Vegas, NV
(Fertitta Tennis Complex)

UNLV 4, Montana 0

Singles competition
1. #89 Alexandr Cozbinov (UNLV) def. CASADEVALL, Victor (UM) 6-3, 6-0
2. Courtney Lock (UNLV) def. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) 6-3, 6-1
3. Eric Samuelsson (UNLV) vs. SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) 7-5, 4-1, unfinished
4. Richard Solberg (UNLV) vs. KORKH, Max (UM) 6-4, 2-3, unfinished
5. Jordan Sauer (UNLV) def. HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) 6-2, 6-4
6. Clayton Alenik (UNLV) vs. TEJERINA, Ignacio (UM) 4-6, 0-5, unfinished

Doubles competition
1. Alexandr Cozbinov/Courtney Lock (UNLV) def. #77 CANELLOPOULOS, Alex/SCHMIDL, Yannick (UM) 6-4
2. Eric Samuelsson/Clayton Alenik (UNLV) vs. CASADEVALL, Victor/TEJERINA, Ignacio (UM) 4-5, unfinished
3. Richard Solberg/Jordan Sauer (UNLV) def. KORKH, Max/HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) 6-4

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