Griz upset T-Birds, punch ticket to Big Sky tourney

Sunday, April 21

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

Southern Utah

Griz upset T-Birds, punch ticket to Big Sky tourney

4/21/2019 6:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

After an already historic career, Montana's lone senior Alex Canellopoulos played perhaps the match of his life on Senior Day, clinching a thrilling and decisive 6-1 win over second-ranked Southern Utah that punched the Grizzlies ticket to the Big Sky championship tournament in Phoenix.

With his partner Max Korkh, Canellopoulos sealed the doubles point for UM with a 7-6 (7) tiebreaker win that gave the Griz a boost of momentum heading into the singles round. The senior then put the team on his back and clinched the match with a three-set thriller to send UM to its 29th-straight Big Sky tournament.

"It was basically my last match ever in Missoula, so I had to give it my all, full effort," said Canellopoulos.

Heading into the third singles set to clinch the match, he also said he put himself in the moment and told himself to "play free."

"Last set ever here, so just enjoy it, and the result will follow," he said to himself. And follow it did.

Following a 2-6 second-set loss, Canellopoulos stormed back to take the third set 6-2 winning on a booming cross-court backhand that landed on the baseline for the win over SUU's Agustin Tamagnone that put UM up for good 4-1.

Head Coach Jason Brown has seen that kind of performance from Canellopoulos in the past, and he couldn't have picked a better time to see it again.

"He's a big match player. He stepped it up, he really did. You can't write a better storybook ending to a Senior Day than that. He saved match points in doubles to clinch, which was the key really. It got us a lot of momentum, and that made all the difference," said Brown.

Canellopoulos' wasn't the only big performance of the day for UM, however. Freshmen Oisin Shaffrey and Ed Pudney cruised to a 6-2 victory in doubles to help get the momentum rolling for UM.

Both freshmen then cruised to wins in the singles round, with Pudney dominating 6-0, 6-2 on court four, and Shaffrey cleaning up on court five with a clean 6-3, 6-3 victory.

"The other big thing was that it relieved the pressure on our two freshmen. They haven't been in this situation that many times," added Brown.

"Alex is a senior. He's been there. For him to step up and play the way he did - I can't say enough good things about the outcome today when we had to have it."

Korkh also impressed for UM in singles, moving to 8-1 on court three this season with a 6-3, 6-2 win. Freshman Pontus Hallgren capped the win for Montana with a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) win on court six to make the overall score 6-1.

IMPLICATIONS: Not that long ago it appeared Montana may not even make the tournament, but after defeating SUU, the Grizzlies now claim the No. 5 seed at the Big Sky championship tourney in Phoenix and will face No. 4 seed Portland State in the first round on Thursday, April 25.

After a logjam in the middle of the standings, the tournament seeds shake out as follows:

1 – Northern Arizona
2 – Southern Utah
3 – Sacramento State
4 – Portland State
5 – Montana
6 – Idaho State

With UM, ISU, and MSU locked at 5-5 in league play, Montana takes the No. 5 seed thanks to its previous win over Idaho State. Big Sky tiebreaker rules then compare results against the top team, this year being NAU, which went undefeated in conference play. The results are then compared to the No. 2 seed, SUU, which beat both ISU and MSU, giving UM the upper hand after today's result, leading to the fifth seed.

The Grizzlies fell to Portland State 3-4 in Portland way back on March 1 in a match that saw UM pick up the doubles point but stumble in singles, with only Max Korkh and Oisin Shaffrey getting wins.

Following a mixed bag of results in April, the Grizzlies will now be bolstered with momentum heading into the conference tourney.

"This is a game-changer. The big thing I didn't want to do was limp into the tournament and not go down there and be able to compete for a title. That's what we're here to do. We're here to try and win championships. After this win, it makes me feel like we can go down and make some noise," said Brown

"There's no pressure on us at all. We're a young, hungry team, and this was our goal."

SENIOR STATUS: It's hard to describe just how much success Canellopoulos has seen as a Grizzly, especially following today's win. But no matter UM's outcome at the Big Sky tourney, he'll go down as one of the all-time greats to wear maroon and silver.

Here's a quick breakdown of his Grizzly resume:

- 114 total wins, the third most in program history
- 23 doubles wins his sophomore year, the most in a single season in program history
- Along with his partner Yannick Schmidl, became the only Grizzly to receive a national ranking (No. 77, March 2018)
- Second-team All-Big Sky in singles and doubles in 2017
- A double major in finance and international business
- Three-time Academic All-Big Sky

He'll now travel to Phoenix for this fourth-straight Big Sky tourney appearance where he will look to advance to his third-straight title match.

He'll depart Montana as one of the greatest, leaving UM's six freshmen and two juniors plenty to live up to next season.

Following today's win, he says he's maybe most excited about helping give the young Grizzlies a taste of success to keep the Grizzlies' tradition of excellence on the court alive for years to come.

"I'm very happy because we have a very young team. Two-thirds of the team are freshmen, and leading them as the only senior has been great," Canellopoulos said.

"They've done a very good job, following and learning, and I've very proud of them. Being in such a tight spot and grinding it out and getting a huge win today. I'm very happy for them especially."

Hear from AC himself after the senior punched the #GrizTennis ticket to Phoenix on Senior Day.#GoGriz pic.twitter.com/uA2skAvKWN
— Montana Griz Tennis 🎾 (@MontanaGrizTEN) April 21, 2019

The #BigSkyTennis Men's Championship field is SET! Here's a look at who will be competing this week in Phoenix for an automatic berth to the @NCAATennis Tournament!

1 - @NAUMensTennis
2 - @SUUTennis
3 - @hornetsports
4 - @psuviksMTN
5 - @MontanaGrizTEN
6 - @ISUBengalTennis pic.twitter.com/N2QkkAHLl4
— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) April 21, 2019