Griz open fall season at EWU

The Montana men's tennis team will get its first action of the fall season in this weekend, giving the team's six true freshmen to their first college experience at the Eastern Washington Fall Classic in Cheney, Sept. 21-23.

Head coach Jason Brown will travel all nine squad members to Cheney for the three-day, four-team tournament with one goal in mind: get plenty of reps for the youngsters.

Montana will face off against the host EWU Eagles, Montana State, and Seattle University in Cheney, giving Brown his first chance to see his squad in live action since they advanced to the Big Sky tournament semifinal in April.

Zero expectations. Some of these guys are going to go and win some matches, and some won't win a single match. There will be a lot of adjustments to be made, and we only care about effort this weekend.

"We have zero expectations as far as results go this weekend. It's preseason, in my mind, completely. I'm excited to watch the guys compete and learn more about their tennis games," said Brown.

"I'm sure I'll be pleasantly surprised by somebody, but only good things can happen for Grizzly tennis this weekend."

Leading the Griz is Alexander Canellopoulos, the team's lone returning senior, a singles and doubles All-Big Sky selection, and one half of last year's historic doubles team that earned an ITF national ranking at No. 77.

Canellopoulos will now team up with freshman Ed Pudney on the doubles court, entering the tourney with the No. 3 overall seed and set to face the Ghazaryan/Nield pair from Seattle in the opening round.

Juniors Max Korkh and Ludvig Hallgren, the team's only other upperclassmen, will enter the tournament as the No. 1 doubles seed, earning a first-round bye and facing the winner of the match between MSU's Monterio/Petrak pair and Eastern's Lajos/Balce.

Ludvig's younger brother Pontus Hallgren will head to Cheney as the second overall singles seed in the tourney, giving him early looks at the event's top competition.

The rest of UM's lineup will be comprised of all fresh faces at the EWU Fall Classic, with Whitefish native Finn Anderson, New Zealander Milo Benn, Irishman Oisín Shaffrey, and Wenatchee, Washington product Jack Yount filling out the bracket for the Grizzlies.

With such a youthful squad, Brown says the Grizzlies aren't going there looking for championship results but will use the experience as more of a litmus test to see where his team stands early in the fall.

"We'll put more emphasis on results later in the fall, but for now we just want to get some matches in, watch them compete and learn how they operate under pressure," Brown says.

Montana will return to action next week at the Weber State Invite in Ogden, Utah.

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Players Mentioned

Finn Anderson

Milo Benn

Ludvig Hallgren

Pontus Hallgren

Max Korkh

Ed Pudney

Jack Yount

University of Montana Athletics