Griz men at EWU for one match this weekend

With one of the youngest teams in program history, the Montana men's tennis team enters the final stretch of its second season under head coach Jason Brown primed to make another trip to the Big Sky championship tournament at the end of the month.

The Grizzlies only have three upperclassmen on the nine-man team, but all of them know the tournament in Phoenix well, with UM having advanced to the title match for two-straight seasons.

But at 4-3 in conference play (7-11 overall), the Griz currently sit tied for fourth in the standings and needing at least one more win out of their final three matches to punch their ticket.

They'll get the chance to move closer to that goal this weekend when the Griz travel to Cheney for a one-off match against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Sunday, April 14, set for a 2 p.m. (MT) start.

While EWU enters the match at 1-6 in league play (3-13 overall), the Griz are not taking them lightly.

"This is an important match now that we've put ourselves in a good spot to make conference, and if we win this one we'll be in an even better spot to get to Phoenix and try to compete for a championship," said junior Ludvig Hallgren.

"Eastern is always tricky, and their facility is tricky too. They've got some good players as well, even though they haven't had a great season.

Following a thrilling win over Idaho State last week, Montana appears to be playing its best tennis of the season heading into its final matches.

For Hallgren, that timing is not by chance, either.

With a squad still trying to find its footing in college tennis, Montana has seen some ups and downs this year, struggling through a seven-match losing streak in February and early March.

The Griz bounced back, however, taking important wins over the two-time defending champion Idaho, Weber State, and a senior-laden Idaho State squad, while coming close to upsets over UNLV and Boise State.

Now the young team is maturing.

"Ever since the beginning of spring, I think everyone has gotten tougher in their matches. Max (Korkh), Alex (Canellopoulos) and I have been improving and competing well higher in the lineup. We have a lot of freshmen, but they've been doing a great job getting tougher mentally. They know what it takes after being exposed to so many matches, now we just have to keep going," Hallgren added.

Indeed, UM's upperclassmen have been leading the charge as of late.

Canellopoulos earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors for his performances in Las Vegas over spring break and pulled out a huge three-set win against Idaho State that all but sealed the team win.

Hallgren earned UM's nomination for the weekly award after two clutch singles wins against Sacramento State and ISU.

Korkh has also been on a tear. The junior currently has the second-best overall record on court three this season at 8-3. At 6-1 in league play, he has the fifth-best overall record in the whole conference and the best record in Big Sky on court three at 5-0.

The Griz will put all that improvement to the test this week at EWU, however, hoping to hit their stride heading into the Brawl of the Wild match in Bozeman against Montana State on April 18.

UM will then cap the regular season against Southern Utah on Easter Sunday, with the match scheduled to be played outdoors at the Lindsay Tennis Center on campus if the weather cooperates.

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Players Mentioned

Ludvig Hallgren

University of Montana Athletics