Griz shooting for bounce-back in pair of home duals

The Montana men's tennis team returns home this week for a pair of pivotal Big Sky matches that could set the tone for the rest of the season as the Griz (3-7, 1-1 BSC) seek to return to the conference championship tournament for the 29th-straight year.

Perennial powerhouses Northern Arizona (4-6, 1-0 BSC) and Weber State (4-8, 2-0 BSC) are set to visit Missoula, with the Griz facing the Lumberjacks on Saturday at 1 p.m. (following the UM women's match), and capping the weekend against Weber at 9 a.m. Sunday at the Peak Racquet Club.

With a young squad featuring six freshmen and three upperclassmen, Montana enters the weekend eager to make an early statement in the Big Sky. More importantly, the Griz are also anxious to snap a six-match losing streak that includes a couple of major near-upsets in 4-3 losses to Utah and Air Force.

Now with eight of their final 10 matches all counting toward the Big Sky standings, it's not quite do-or-die time for the Griz, but wins will go a long way toward booking a ticket to Phoenix for the conference tourney.

"In my mind, these are the two toughest teams in the conference, and I'm glad we're playing them at home. It's a big weekend. We have to go out there with an edge," said head coach Jason Brown.

"We feel like we have some home-court advantage at the Peak, so hopefully we can take advantage of it."

Home court advantage may be an understatement as well, with Montana entering the weekend riding a nine-match home win streak. In fact, the last time the Griz lost at home? 2017 against the same Weber State Wildcats.

The Griz have had Northern Arizona's number at the Big Sky Tournament the past two years, upsetting the higher ranked Lumberjacks in the semifinal round in both 2017 and 18 to advance to the championship.

But in regular season play it's been a different story, with the Griz not taking down the perennial power 'Jacks since 2015, when UM defended its home turf 6-1 in Missoula.

Similarly, Weber has been a tough out for the Griz in the regular season, with the last win against the Wildcats coming in the 2014 Big Sky championship where UM dominated 4-0 to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.

Currently sitting in the middle of the league standings at 1-1, Montana will look to play with a chip on its shoulder this weekend and climb the standings.

"We're healthy and ready to go. We'd just like to get the monkey off our back a little bit, get a confidence-boosting win or two this weekend, and get ready to roll through the league schedule," said Brown.

A GLIMPSE AT THE GRIZ

Montana's 0-6 losing streak was about three sets away from becoming a 3-3 record, with freshman Pontus Hallgren playing for the win on court six against Air Force and Portland State, but just falling short.

The Griz also just fell short against the Utah Utes, who have two players in the national rankings this week, as the toughest team in a nonconference schedule that also includes the defending Big East champions Marquette, and the current Southland Conference leaders Abilene Christian.

The Griz have been paced by a breakout performance by freshman Oisin Shaffrey, who enters the weekend at 7-3 on the season, one of the top-ten overall winning percentages in the league.

The Irishman has been rock-solid for UM lower in the order, going 6-2 on court five, which is the second-best win percentage in the league on that court. Fellow freshman Ed Pudney is also enjoying a breakout first season at UM with a 6-3 record on court four.

Together the pair have accounted for 13 wins during the spring duals season, nearly as much as the rest of the team combined.

SCOUTING NORTHERN ARIZONA

If the Griz are to pull off the upset over the Lumberjacks, they'll have to go through NAU senior Tim Handel, the defending two-time league MVP.

Currently carrying a 7-1 record, Handel entered the ITA national rankings for the second time of the year this week, checking in at No. 119 in the singles, and No. 67 in the doubles rankings with his partner Ruben Montano.

Montana has had good luck against the Jacks in the Big Sky tourney. In 2017, No. 4 Montana upset No. 1 NAU 4-3 in the league tournament, and in 2018 defeated the No. 2 Jacks 4-3 for a second-straight year to advance to the title match.

Montana is 7-6 all-time against the Jacks at the conference tourney and holds a 3-2 advantage in the semifinal, and a 4-2 advantage in the quarterfinal.

SCOUTING WEBER STATE

The Wildcats come to town sitting second on the league table at 2-0 in Big Sky play, but more impressive is their nonconference schedule where they picked up a 4-3 home upset over Gonzaga, the same Gonzaga that beat UM 5-2.

Former Big Sky Freshman of the Year Kris Van Wyk leads WSU on court one at 5-6, a junior that has given Montana fits in the past against the likes of Grizzly legends Victor Casadevall and Yannick Schmidl.

Led by 2016 Big Sky Coach of the Year Brad Ferreira, Weber State has won the league's regular-season title three of out the last five seasons.

UP NEXT

Montana takes a week off before traveling to Moscow to face another of the league's perennial powers and the two-time defending Big Sky tournament champion Idaho Vandals on March 23, before a spring break trip to Las Vegas to face UNLV and Boise State.

Griz shooting for bounce-back in pair of home duals

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Victor Casadevall

Pontus Hallgren

Ed Pudney

Yannick Schmidl

Oisin Shaffrey

University of Montana Athletics