Griz open Big Sky season at UNC looking to avoid past mistakes

In 2017, the Montana men's tennis team was upset by Northern Colorado 2-5 in Greeley to open up Big Sky play. It was the first loss to UNC in program history.

At the time, current team leaders Alex Canellopoulos, Max Korkh, and Ludvig Hallgren were all wet-behind-the-ears underclassmen, and after winning the doubles point, struggled to fend off the UNC rally in the singles round.

For the rest of the season, Montana played from behind the eight ball, in danger of not finishing in the top six on the league table to advance to the conference tourney, a place where they would eventually advance to the final.

Two seasons later, Canellopoulos, Korkh, and Hallgren are older and wiser, but with six other freshmen on the squad, the 2019 Grizzlies are still green. Despite the team's youth, Montana returns to Greeley this week determined not to let history repeat itself.

"The importance of this first one has been stressed," said second-year head coach Jason Brown, who was an assistant with UM in 2017.

"I don't think I'll need to motivate them for this. We know Northern Colorado is a much-improved team and it's a tough place to play. But we're ready. We're expecting an absolute battle."

OPENING SERVE: Fresh off a two-match home sweep that included a nonconference win over Montana State, the Griz (2-1) travel to Colorado to open conference play against UNC (3-3) on Friday, Feb. 8, at 2 p.m.

A win in Greeley will go a long way toward helping the Grizzlies advance to the Big Sky championship tourney for a 29^th-straight season. But despite the Bears being picked to finish last in the league's preseason poll, UNC already has a signature win under its belt, defeating Southern Methodist 4-3 in Dallas two weeks ago, making the Griz stand up and pay attention.

"There are zero easy road wins, and this year there are zero easy conference wins. On the flip side, I feel like we can beat anybody, but there's not a single team that won't give us a hard match," said Brown.

Following the match at UNC, Montana heads south on the Front Range to Colorado Springs where it will face Abilene Christian and the U.S. Air Force Academy in a pair on nonconference ties. The Griz will face the Wildcats on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 11 a.m. and the Falcons the following day on Feb. 10 at 2 p.m.

COVERAGE: When the Grizzlies travel to the Air Force Academy, fans can tune in to watch the matches live and follow live scoring, with links available at GoGriz.com. No video or scoring updates will be available from Northern Colorado.

GRIZ QUICK HITS: Montana filled its tanks with confidence last week, defeating Whitman and Montana State both by a commanding 6-1 scoreline, with three of UM's freshmen going 5-for-6 in singles for their first college wins.

The pair of wins extends Montana's home win streak to nine-straight matches dating back to the team's last loss in Missoula on April 23, 2017.

The win over MSU was also the 10^th-straight for the Griz, who are scheduled to face each other again on April 18 in Bozeman for the league match that will also count toward the "Brawl of the Wild" standings.

The Griz head to Colorado led by Canellopoulos, who was named the GoGriz.com male student-athlete of the week after rattling off 10-straight games against his Bobcat opponent to pick up a dominant 7-5, 6-0 win and lead the Griz to a team victory.

Picking up a win at Gonzaga and sweeping his court three matches at home was Korkh, who enters this weekend's slate as the only undefeated singles player in the UM lineup at 3-0.

Brothers Ludvig and Pontus Hallgren are reaping the benefits of sibling competitiveness, off to an undefeated 2-0 start on the doubles court. The pair were headed for a win at Gonzaga as well that could have put them at 3-0 but remained unfinished when the point was clinched.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: UNC hosts the Grizzlies for its opening Big Sky match in Greeley on Friday with the eyes of the conference looking on to see if the Bears can repeat the upset of two years ago.

Northern Colorado is led by third-year head coach Ben Gendron who was a standout player on that 2017 UNC team that beat Montana, helping earn him a place on the first team All-Big Sky list.

Picked to finish last in the league, UNC turned heads with a win over SMU where they bounced back from a loss in the doubles round to win on singles courts two, three, five and six for the 4-3 victory.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: Abilene Christian, out of the tennis hotbed of Texas, heads to Colorado Springs as winners of five of its last six matches and 7-3 overall on the season.

The Wildcats already have a signature win too, knocking off Pepperdine 4-2 in Malibu.

"They're for real. They're a legit team," said Brown.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS: Air Force enters the match at 5-3, boasting a win over Northern Colorado (7-0) and Northern Kentucky, but suffering losses to UC Riverside, Fresno State, and Denver.

However, the Falcons will have a distinct home-court advantage in the thin air of Colorado Springs at 6,035 feet and benefiting from that typical military academy toughness.

"There isn't a team in the nation that isn't scared of going to play Air Force at home," said Brown. "They have super-fast courts, high altitude, and a tough, well-coached team."

UP NEXT: The Griz return to the road in two weeks for what could be the biggest challenge of the season when UM takes on the Pac-12's Utah Utes and Dan Little, the No. 96 ranked player in the country. While in Salt Lake, the Griz will also take on Marquette.

Griz open Big Sky season at UNC looking to avoid past mistakes

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alex Canellopoulos

Ludvig Hallgren

Pontus Hallgren

Max Korkh

University of Montana Athletics