Griz face Thunderbirds to open Big Sky Tourney

Almost a year ago to the day, the Montana men's tennis team upset top-ranked Northern Arizona 4-3 in the Big Sky semifinal to advance to the conference title match where they ran out of gas against Idaho.

Since then, the No. 1 goal for the Grizzlies has been to return to that championship match and win it for the first time since 2014.

They will get that chance this week as Montana (12-5, 9-2 BSC) heads to Phoenix as the No. 3 seed in the conference championship tournament for a record 28th-straight appearance, beginning Thursday, April 26, at the Phoenix Tennis Center.

The Griz return to the tourney as one of the hottest teams in the league, winners of six straight – the longest win streak in the conference after completing the regular season undefeated at home.

"The goal isn't to win one match or two matches, the goal is to win three matches," said interim head coach Jason Brown. "We're expecting a battle, but the motivation is there. It's the whole thing we've worked for all season. We went undefeated at home, built all the momentum, now we just get to go put all the hard work into action."

THE DETAILS
The No. 3 Griz open their tournament against No. 6 Southern Utah (15-9, 5-6 BSC) who is making its first tournament appearance in program history after upsetting perennial powerhouse Sacramento State in Cedar City last week.

Sacramento State, who was picked ahead of Montana in the league's preseason poll, will miss the Big Sky tournament for the first time in their program's history, having played in every tourney since 1997.

The Griz face the Thunderbirds in the first match of the day in the men's bracket Thursday, with serves going up at 2 p.m. (MT).

Should Montana win, it will remain the highest remaining seed and advance on to play No. 2 seeded Northern Arizona in a semifinal rematch of last season on Friday, April 27 at 3:30 p.m. (MT).

The Big Sky championship will be played on Saturday, April 28 at 2 p.m. (MT), with the winner receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tourney.

But the Griz must first get past an upstart T-Birds squad who is also buoyed by momentum. Montana will have history on its side, however, with UM beating SUU 5-2 earlier this season at altitude in Cedar City.

"We're positioned very well honestly. We beat Southern Utah at their place, and I think that gives us a big advantage at the neutral site. I like the matchups against them, and we've got a lot of confidence right now," said Grizzly senior Yannick Schmidl, who will make his fourth-straight appearance at the Big Sky tourney.

THE GRIZ
Having a lot of confidence might be an understatement. This year's Grizzly squad is positioned exactly where they wanted to be heading into the tourney. Consider the following:

Schmidl finished the regular season with the best overall singles record in the Big Sky Conference at 12-3 (.800).

Schmidl & Max Korkh also compiled the best overall doubles win percentage in the league at 8-0.

In Big Sky play, sophomore Ludvig Hallgren finished the season with the third-best overall singles win percentage, going 8-1 (.889) and the best win percentage on court six in the league.

Montana finished the season undefeated at home (7-0) in 2018 for the first time since 2012 when the Griz went 4-0 in Missoula.

Victor Casadevall was given Montana's nomination for Big Sky Player of the Week after going undefeated against Montana State and Eastern Washington in singles and doubles, and not letting an opponent win more than three games in a set in the four straight-set wins.

All of that, paired with an upset home win over No. 1 ranked Idaho (who beat Boise State last week), means the Griz are rolling into the tourney with a full head of steam, playing their best on all six courts.

"With four seniors, it's really about just committing to the excellence they've achieved over the past month," added Brown. "They know what's going on, they know what to expect, they know how it works, they're veterans."

Montana takes the No. 3 seed at the #BigSkyTennis tourney, and will face @SUUTennis on Thurs. April 26 at 2 PM (MT)!#GoGriz pic.twitter.com/B1L6DS7x9R
— Montana Griz Tennis ?? (@MontanaGrizTEN) April 22, 2018

LAST TIME THEY MET
The Griz open the tourney against a T-Birds squad they defeated 5-2 the day after a disappointing loss to Northern Arizona in Flagstaff in the last road match of the season.

Montana fell down early in the doubles round, but wouldn't stay behind for long, however, as Casadevall and Ignacio Tejerina came through with a court one win (6-3) over SUU's Tordoff/Morales pair, a team who had beaten the UM duo during the fall tournament season.

Schmidl and Korkh, the Grizzlies' top overall doubles pair sealed the point for UM with a 6-4 decider on court two, putting the Griz out to a 1-0 team lead.

Casadevall, Tejerina, Korkh, and Hallgren each pulled out singles wins to offset losses by Schmidl (the last loss he's taken this season) to SUU's Jonathan Morales (4-6, 4-6) and Korkh.

2018 Big Sky Championship Tournament
Quarterfinals - April 26
1:00 p.m. - No. 3 Montana vs. No. 6 Southern Utah
2:30 p.m. - No. 4 Weber State vs. No. 5 Portland State

Semifinals - April 27
1:00 p.m. - No. 1 Idaho vs. Lowest Remaining Seed
2:30 p.m. - No. 2 Northern Arizona vs. Highest Remaining Seed

Championship - April 28
1:00 p.m. - Winner of Semifinal No. 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal No. 2 Winner

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Victor Casadevall

Ludvig Hallgren

Max Korkh

Yannick Schmidl

Ignacio Tejerina

University of Montana Athletics