Griz cap regular season with Cats and Eagles at home

In an undefeated three-match homestand last week, the Montana men's tennis team clinched a berth at the Big Sky tournament, knocked off the No. 1 team in the league, and picked up a pair of 7-0 wins. It was a week for the UM record books.

But now is no time for the Grizzlies to rest on their laurels. There is still plenty of work to do before UM heads to Phoenix for its 28th-straight trip to the conference championship as two of Montana's biggest rivals come to town to wrap up the regular season: Montana State and Eastern Washington.

The Griz (10-5, 7-2 BSC) enter this week's matches sitting third on the Big Sky table. They are flush with momentum but must take care of business against the Bobcats (5-12, 4-5 BSC) and Eagles (7-12, 3-6 BSC) to maintain their top three seed, or potentially earn a bye with a top two seed.

"Playing at home against two rivals and our conference seeding on the line, I don't think a letdown is even an issue," said interim head coach Jason Brown. "They know how important momentum is going into the tournament and how hard it is to get the momentum we have."

THE DETAILS
The Griz host the Cats on Friday, April 20 at 2 p.m. outdoors at the Lindsay Tennis Center in the heart of the UM campus.

Bragging rights will be on the line as the annual Brawl of the Wild match between the rivals, and Montana has a record to uphold. The Griz have won seven-straight matches over the Cats, with MSU not picking up a win over UM since 2014, meaning UM's four seniors have never lost to their cross-state rivals.

The Griz will celebrate those seniors on Senior Day, set for Sunday, April 22 at 2 p.m. against Eastern Washington at the outdoor courts of the Lindsay Tennis Center. The first 25 fans in attendance at the match will receive a FREE Griz Tennis t-shirt just for coming to cheer on the team.

LAST TIME THEY MET
Fresh off a bye week, the Griz took care of business against the Cats in a non-conference "friendly" in March, coming back from an early deficit to defeat MSU 4-3 in Bozeman.

The Bobcats jumped up early, taking 6-4 wins on courts two and one to enter the singles round with a 1-0 team lead. MSU's lead wouldn't last long, however, as Victor Casadevall, Yannick Schmidl, and Alexander Canellopoulos each took wins on the top-three courts, and Ludvig Hallgren clinched the match on court six.

The Griz last faced Eastern Washington on April 15, 2017, and took a big step toward the Big Sky tournament with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the No. 2 ranked Eagles in Cheney.

Despite missing Casadevall in the lineup due to injury, Montana claimed a victory with three singles wins to knot the match 3-3 before Max Korkh rebounded from a loss in the first set to win in a third set tiebreaker.

THE GRIZ
Montana enters the home stretch of the season with a singular goal in mind: to return to Big Sky title match for a second-straight year.

Only the top six teams in the league advance to the tournament in Phoenix, with the winner going on to represent the Big Sky in the NCAA tournament, similar to the basketball postseason.

UM upset Northern Arizona in the semifinal last season before falling to Idaho in the final. Now, with a win over the Vandals and a spot in the tourney locked in, UM is trying to win out and string together six-straight wins for the first time since 2016. With perennial Big Sky powerhouse Sacramento State still to play No. 2 NAU, the Griz could still claim a top-two seed and earn a first-round bye at the tournament.

Schmidl will lead the Griz this week after being named Big Sky Player of the Week for the second time this season on Tuesday. The honor followed a 6-0 weekend where he knocked off three-time All-Big Sky Mark Kovacs of Idaho and the 2016 Big Sky MVP Nathan Boniel of Portland State, both in straight sets.

Playing in his final home matches as a Grizzly, Schmidl has been the emotional catalyst for the Griz, who remain undefeated at home at 5-0. He'll have extra motivation this week as well with a special senior day visit.

"My parents are coming in from Germany for these matches, and that's just amazing for me since they've only been here once," Schmidl said.

Also shoring up the Grizzly lineups from the No. 6 position is sophomore Ludvig Hallgren who has quietly built one of the top overall singles records in the Big Sky at 7-1 – the best winning percentage in the league at that position.

In college tennis, a win on court six counts just as much as a win on court one, and Hallgren has been solid as a rock in securing crucial bottom of the order points during UM's run.

"I think I've just been trying to fight on every point and come up with the right shots at the right time," says Hallgren.

"At number six I think you have to make a lot of balls and you have to be focused. Consistency is important, especially for me and Max (Korkh) at the bottom of the lineup. We know we're better strikers than them, we just have to step up when it's time."

Hallgren has been a mainstay for UM on six all season, playing all but two matches at the position. Montana is 7-2 overall when he picks up a victory, emphasizing the importance of his role on this year's team.

More Griz Notes

Yannick Schmidl is the No. 1 overall singles player in the Big Sky Conference with an 11-3 record (.786)
Schmidl has the No. 1 winning percentage on court one in the Big Sky at 5-2 (.712) since taking the top spot for UM on March 29
The German senior also has the No. 1 winning percentage on court two in the Big Sky at 5-1 (.833) in matches from the first half of the season
He and his doubles partner Max Korkh also have the No. 1 overall doubles winning percentage at 7-0 in the Big Sky
The pair also has the No. 1 doubles winning percentage on court two
Schmidl became the only Grizzly to ever earn a national ranking (along with former partner Alexander Canellopoulos) earlier this season when the doubles pair was ranked No. 77 in the nation by the ITA.
Montana has advanced to the Big Sky tourney more than any other program in conference history, a record 28-straight times.

Griz cap regular season with Cats and Eagles at home

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Players Mentioned

Alex Canellopoulos

Victor Casadevall

Ludvig Hallgren

Max Korkh

Yannick Schmidl

University of Montana Athletics