Griz in Portland looking to rebound

The Montana men's tennis team heads to the City of Roses this week for a Big Sky Conference match against Portland State (Fri. 3/1, 2 p.m. MT) and a nonconference tune-up against the Portland Pilots (Sat. 3/2, 10 a.m. MT), looking to snap a four-match losing streak.

For the Grizzlies (3-5, 1-0 BSC), that four-match losing streak is a bit of a misnomer, with losses coming at altitude in the Rockies against Abilene Christian, Air Force, Utah, and Marquette.

During that stretch, UM had its chances for upsets as well, with the Griz falling 3-4 to both Air Force and Utah, and each coming down to a third set.

Now Montana heads to sea level looking to bounce back and move to 2-0 in league play against a Portland State team that was picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky, but has surged early in the season at 6-3, and is coming off a sound 6-1 defeat of Montana State.

"I feel like we're going into Portland State as an underdog. That is a really good Big Sky team," said head coach Jason Brown. "We're going to have to do something special to come out of there with a win. It's not going to be easy."

With a win over Northern Colorado already in hand, the young Grizzlies - who count six freshmen on the nine-man squad – are hoping to build off the lessons learned against tough opponents this week. And taking a long view, UM is also looking to the trip to Portland to help gain momentum with league-leading Northern Arizona and Weber State set to play in Missoula the following week.

"The guys know the importance of this match against PSU. This is the start. We got out of the gates quickly with Northern Colorado, but now we're running the race," added Brown.

Coverage: Fans can follow the action against Portland State Friday with links to live scoring available at GoGriz.com. A live stream and live scoring of the match at Portland on Saturday is also available, with links at GoGriz.com as well.

Griz Tracks: Montana's Big Sky Player of the Week nomination went to freshman Oisin Shaffrey, who has been on a tear in his first season at UM, sitting at 6-2 in singles play. Shaffrey went 1-1 in Salt Lake, defeating Utah's Azat Hankuliyev in three sets (5-7, 7-5, 6-0) then pushing Marquette's Greg Anderson to a tiebreaker in a 3-6, 6-7 (2-7) loss.

Freshmen Ed Pudney and Pontus Hallgren each got their first win over a Pac-12 opponent at Utah as well, putting the Griz in with a chance to defeat the Utes for the first time in program history.

Scouting the Vikings: PSU is led by Lucas Castelo Branco, who was named Big Sky Player of the Week on Feb. 20 after picking up wins over Idaho and Sacramento State. The Vikings have won two of their last three (including a win over the defending conference champion Idaho Vandals) and were close to winning three-straight, instead falling 3-4 to Sacramento State. PSU has also picked up a pair of wins over Seattle, and fell in a close 3-4 decision to Boise State.

Scouting the Pilots: Portland has pulled off wins over Big Sky opponents Portland State, Idaho, and Montana State this season, but also dropped a match to Northern Arizona in Las Vegas.

At 3-6, the Pilots are young this season, with the traditionally strong West Coast Conference program picked to finish sixth in the league.

Up Next: Montana returns home for key Big Sky matches against Northern Arizona and Weber State on March 9 and 10 in Missoula. The Griz will be looking to keep their streak of nine-straight home wins alive.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pontus Hallgren

Ed Pudney

Oisin Shaffrey

University of Montana Athletics