Griz head to Idaho for pair of matches

After a week of hibernation, the Montana men's tennis team re-emerges from its den on the first weekend of spring for a two-match road swing through the Palouse.

The Griz will travel to Lewiston on Friday, March 22, for a nonconference tune-up against Lewis-Clark State before capping the weekend with a key Big Sky Championship rematch against the Idaho Vandals on Saturday.

Montana (4-8, 2-2 BSC) returns to action this week after hitting the practice courts following a home split with perennial league powers Northern Arizona and Weber State in early March. Boasting a nationally ranked singles and doubles lineup, NAU swept the young Grizzlies 7-0. UM then rebounded with an impressive 5-2 win over the Wildcats to stay at .500 in league play.

Now, with nine matches in 30 days ahead of them, the Griz are set to enter the home stretch of the 2019 season, needing to finish in the top six on the league table to advance to the program's 29th-straight conference championship tournament.

"We had a good training block last week, and now this is the start of our final five-week push of the season," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I'm happy with the consistent effort, but some of our performances have been up and down. Hopefully, with these two weeks of practice, we've dialed that in, and we know what to expect."

BACK ON TRACK: Montana's win over Weber State came at a crucial time for the Griz, snapping a seven-match losing streak that included a road loss to Portland State and NAU, currently the top two teams in the Big Sky standings.

The loss to the Lumberjacks, however, put an end to UM's nine-match home win streak that dated back to a 2017 home loss to Weber State. The Griz went undefeated in Missoula in 2018, winning all seven home matches, the most in program history.

Freshman Oisin Shaffrey has been rock-solid toward the bottom of Montana's lineup all season with a 7-3 record (.700) on court five, which is tied for the second-best overall win percentage in the league in that position.

Shaffrey's inaugural season in Missoula has seen the Irishman pick up several notable wins, including three-set grinders over Portland State and Weber State and upsets over opponents from Air Force and Utah.

Junior Max Korkh also heads to Idaho with one of the Big Sky's top win percentages at 6-3 (.667) on court three. Outside of a loss to NAU standout Lucas Taylor, Korkh has only lost one set to a conference opponent this season at 4-1 against teams from the league (including a nonconference match with Montana State).

A LOOK AT IDAHO: The Vandals have been one of the most dominant teams in the Big Sky over the past half-decade since returning the conference from the Sun Belt, advancing to the league championship match four times in the last four years.

In that time, Idaho has won three championships and beaten the Griz to advance to the NCAA tourney in both 2017 and 2018.

The Grizzlies split with Idaho in the 2018 season, beating the Vandals 5-2 in Missoula during the regular season. Idaho got the upper hand, however, avenging the loss with a 4-0 win over the Griz in the conference title match in Phoenix.

But the Grizzlies will face a different Idaho squad this year. The Vandals are under new management with first-year head coach Daniel Hangstefer taking over the program earlier this year from former Big Sky Coach of the Year Abid Akbar. Also gone are former first-team All-Big Sky players Mark Kovacs and Carlos Neto, as well as the second-team all-conference Felipe Fonseca.

At 4-9 overall and 1-2 in Big Sky play, with losses to Sacramento State and Portland State, the Vandals have also been hit by the injury bug this season.

"I don't think we've seen a full-strength Idaho yet, but they are still one of the top teams in the Big Sky. Beating them there is never an easy thing to do," said Brown.

"We know this is a key matchup for us that will set the tone for the rest of the Big Sky season. We're excited about the challenge, but we know they're a championship team with a ton of experience."

A LOOK AT LC STATE: The match against the Warriors (1-7, 0-0 Frontier) was a late addition to the Grizzlies' schedule, being penciled in last week to get both teams more minutes.

Montana will travel to Lewiston to take on the NAIA school on Friday, getting the chance to shake a bye week's worth of rust off before Saturday's crucial match with the Vandals.

"Having six freshmen, it's one thing to get a hit around in a new facility, but competing in a new facility really makes it your own," said Brown.

"LC State is a really good NAIA team, really well coached. It will be a good test for us to go out there and compete the day before, and sort of get match tough for Idaho the next day."

UP NEXT: Montana travels south to Nevada over spring break next week, set to play a pair of nonconference matches against UNLV and Boise State in Las Vegas on March 27 and 28.

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Players Mentioned

Max Korkh

Oisin Shaffrey

University of Montana Athletics