Griz men open season at Gonzaga Saturday

The Montana men's tennis team begins its climb toward a third-straight Big Sky championship match on Saturday, but returning to those heights will be a taller task for the Griz in 2019.

With a nine-man team built of six freshmen, Montana's newcomers will enter the first college dual of their careers this week when the Griz travel east to take on an experienced Gonzaga squad in Spokane to open the season.

First serves from GU's Stevens Center are scheduled to go up at 3 p.m. (MT). Fans can tune in to watch the action on each court via a Gonzaga live-stream and follow the numbers via live stats as well, with links available at GoGriz.com.

UM opens the season roughly two weeks ahead of time this year thanks to the abbreviated winter break on the University's academic schedule.

The result of less time away is more time to sharpen up before the conference schedule begins, and Max Korkh thinks his young teammates are ready to take on the Zag's challenge.

"I think we've done a really good job of carrying over the hard work from the fall, especially because everyone came back in good shape from winter break, which is important," said Korkh.

"These last couple practices have finally been looking like last year's Griz practices where we bring it for an hour and a half with our full intensity, so I think we've had a really good start to the year."

Leading the way for Montana is its lone senior Alex Canellopoulos, who, along with his partner Yannick Schmidl, became the first player in program history to earn an ITA national doubles ranking in 2018.

Korkh, a big-hitting junior from British Columbia will also provide much-needed power against a Zags roster loaded with upperclassmen that he expects to throw Montana's youngsters into the deep end of college tennis to see if they can swim.

"It will be a good start for us and a good test of our depth. The conditions will be what we like – indoor hardcourts – which is where we practice. This match will tell us a lot of things we need to work on for sure," said Korkh.

The Grizzlies are familiar with the courts at the Stevens Center, however. That was the venue the last time Montana took the court as a team last fall at GU's Bulldog Classic, meaning both sides will enter the dual knowing what each is capable of.

"They're going to be ready to go. They're expecting big things, and they should. This is the best Gonzaga team I've seen in the last decade, and we've got nothing to lose," said second-year head coach Jason Brown.

"But It's a match we can win if things go our way. We're going to challenge the guys to go put pressure on them and go compete really hard and see if we can put them in a spot for an upset."

Griz Tennis Quick Hits

Head coach Jason Brown is in his second season at UM after leading the Griz to the Big Sky title match in his first season

Brown was named the Big Sky Coach of the Year in 2018 - his first season as the Grizzlies' head coach.

Montana returns just three players from last year's conference runner-up team, and just one senior to lead six freshmen on the nine-man squad.

Despite the team's youth, the Grizzlies were picked second in the preseason poll by the league's coaches, a hat tip to the team's two-straight championship appearances.

Montana posted an undefeated 7-0 record at home in 2018 and picked up 14 total wins, the second-most in team history.

Grizzly senior Alex Canellopoulos and his doubles partner Yannick Schmidl (graduated) became the first Grizzlies ever to earn an ITA national ranking in 2018 at No. 77

The Grizzlies are seeking their 29th-straight appearance in the Big Sky Championship Tournament in 2019

The Grizzlies have finished as Big Sky runners-up for two-straight seasons, falling to Idaho in 2017 and 2018.

The Griz posted the best overall team GPA in all of Grizzly Athletics in the fall of 2018, at 3.75

Following the match at Gonzaga, the Grizzlies will return to Missoula for two more weeks of training before their home opener on Feb. 2 against Whitman followed by a home nonconference tussle with Montana State on Feb. 3.

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Players Mentioned

Alex Canellopoulos

Max Korkh

Yannick Schmidl

University of Montana Athletics