Griz stumble on road against EWU

Sunday, April 14

Cheney, Wash.

3 PM (MT)

Montana

Eastern Washington

4/14/2019 8:53:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score PDF Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

With only one match on the schedule this week, the extra rest didn't do the Montana men's tennis team any favors with the Griz dropping a 5-2 decision to Eastern Washington in Cheney on Sunday.

Montana (7-12, 4-4 BSC) started slow with a loss in the doubles round and couldn't recover in the singles, dropping three of its top four matches in straight sets, handing the Eagles (4-14, 2-7 BSC) just their second Big Sky win of the season.

"Today proved that you cannot play poorly on the road and win a conference tennis match. We let a few prime opportunities slip away today early and then momentum against us took over," said head coach Jason Brown.

"It was an incredibly disappointing result, but Eastern came out very loose and played like they had nothing to lose. They deserved to win today."

Freshmen Oisin Shaffrey and Pontus Hallgren picked up the only doubles win of the day for the Griz with a 6-3 win on court three over EWU's Doumen/Khachatryan pair.

Shaffrey also picked up a win in singles, beating Doumen 6-2, 7-5 on court 5. Fellow freshman Ed Pudney was the only other Grizzly to get a win, defeating Martin Bats on court 4, 6-4, 6-3.

The loss puts Montana into a three-way tie for fifth place in the Big Sky standings with just two matches left in the regular season against Montana State and Southern Utah.

After today's loss, Montana will need to win one of those matches to advance to the conference championship tournament in Phoenix. With SUU (6-2 BSC) clinching a berth at the tourney this weekend, Montana's postseason hopes likely rest on the Brawl of the Wild match against MSU (4-4 BSC) on April 18.

"We still control our own destiny so that is all we can ask for after having so many close matches slip away from us this season," says Brown.

The Griz will face the cats in Bozeman on April 18 before capping the season at home against the Thunderbirds on Sunday, April 21.

Eastern Washington 5, Montana 2
4/14/2019 at Cheney, Wash. (EWU)

Singles competition
1. FIELD, Jeremy (EWU) def. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex (UM) 6-3, 6-3
2. KHACHATRYAN, Mikayel (EWU) def. HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) 6-1, 6-1
3. BALCE, Manuel (EWU) def. KORKH, Max (UM) 7-6, 6-3
4. PUDNEY, Ed (UM) def. BATS, Martin (EWU) 6-4, 6-3
5. SHAFFREY, Oisin (UM) def. DOUMEN, Wout (EWU) 6-2, 7-6
6. MUELLER, Jeremy (EWU) def. HALLGREN, Pontus (UM) 1-6, 6-3, 10-8

Doubles competition
1. FIELD, Jeremy/BALCE, Manuel (EWU) def. CANELLOPOULOS, Alex/HALLGREN, Ludvig (UM) 6-2
2. BATS, Martin/MUELLER, Jeremy (EWU) def. PUDNEY, Ed/KORKH, Max (UM) 6-4
3. SHAFFREY, Oisin/HALLGREN, Pontus (UM) def. DOUMEN, Wout/KHACHATRYAN, Mikayel (EWU) 6-3

Match Notes
Montana 7-12
Eastern Washington 4-14