Griz look to retain momentum at Big Sky championship

As he gets ready to put a bow on his second season as the Montana men's head tennis coach, Jason Brown has made it the team's goal to advance to the Big Sky Conference championship tournament from day one.

It wasn't long ago it looked as though that might not happen, with the Griz dropping late-season matches to Eastern Washington and Montana State in two of the last three matches of the season.

That all changed on Sunday, however, when UM punched its ticket to championship tourney with a 6-1 upset of second-ranked Southern Utah in Missoula that gave the Griz a 5-5 league record, the No. 5 seed at the conference tourney, and plenty of momentum as they head to Phoenix.

"I think the guys are really excited about the opportunity to go and compete," said Brown.

"Once we checked that first box, especially in that fashion, it feels like nothing but good things can happen to us down there, and we expect them to. We're going to take it one match at a time and put ourselves in a position to make some noise."

The Grizzlies (8-13, 5-5 BSC) open the program's 29th-straight Big Sky tournament in the quarterfinal round at 9 a.m. (MT) on Thursday morning at the Phoenix Tennis Center.

UM opens the tourney against a familiar foe in the No. 4 seed Portland State Vikings (12-7, 6-4 BSC), who are seeking their program's first-ever tournament win. Should the Grizzlies win, they will advance on to face either No. 1 Northern Arizona or No. 2 Southern Utah in the semifinal.

COVERAGE: The Big Sky Conference will provide live scoring for each match at BigSkyStats.com, with live updates, interviews and more available on the team's twitter feed @MontanaGrizTEN.

TOURNAMENT BRACKET
Quarterfinals - April 25
No. 3 Sacramento State vs. No. 6 Idaho State - 8 a.m. PT
No. 4 Portland State vs. No. 5 Montana - 8 a.m. PT

Semifinals - April 26
No. 1 Northern Arizona vs. Lowest Remaining Seed - 8 a.m. PT
No. 2 Southern Utah vs. Highest Remaining Seed - 8 a.m. PT

Championship - April 27
Semifinal Winners - 8 a.m. PT

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Montana is no stranger to the conference championship, but with such a young team that suits up freshmen in half its starting lineup led by lone-senior Alex Canellopoulos, a conference berth was never a given.

In March, the Griz picked up key wins over Weber State and defending champion Idaho before taking a crucial win over Idaho State in early April that would prove to be helpful come tournament seeding time.

The Griz looked to be well on their way to the tourney but then stumbled twice on the road at EWU and MSU in losses that could have put them out of the league's top six. But the decisive bounce-back against the Thunderbirds just four days before the tournament was scheduled to start capped the season on a high note.

Now with the No. 5 seed locked up, Montana will head to the desert to face the Vikings, whom they lost to 3-4 early in the season on the road at Portland. At 10-0 Northern Arizona (which beat the Griz 7-0 in Missoula earlier in the year) looks to be the cream of this year's tourney with Idaho not there to defend its title.

But with everyone else in the tourney carrying at least three losses, the parity at the tournament is high, giving the Griz confidence in knowing they can compete with anyone, which bodes well for the future of UM tennis as well.

"Outside of NAU I think the margins in our conference are very thin," said Brown.

"I really wanted to get the freshmen down there and get a championship experience so in years down the line they're settled in and ready to win championships."

LAST MEETING: With Montana leading the all-time series with the Vikings 12-2, the Griz entered this year's match at Portland State on March 1 looking to snap a four-match slide against some of the top teams on its schedule, and open the two-stop trip to Oregon with a win.

PSU had different ideas, however, bouncing back from a loss in the doubles round to sneak out a 4-3 nail biter over the Griz with five of the six singles matches going a third set.

Montana started the match well with a win in the doubles round, with Oisin Shaffrey and Max Korkh breezing to a 6-2 win on court two, and Alex Canellopoulos and Ed Pudney holding on for a 6-4 win to clinch the point.

But in singles, it was only Korkh, and Shaffrey who managed to come away with wins after UM after Canellopoulos, Pudney, and Pontus Hallgren each came out on the wrong end of three-set thrillers.

A LOOK AT THE GRIZ: Canellopoulos enters the tourney on the heels of perhaps the most important win of his career, a gutsy 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win over SUU's Agustin Tamagnone (that, on top of a big doubles victory) that all but sealed the Grizzlies upset.

The win was just what the doctor ordered for "AC" who has been on the wrong end of some near misses this season with an 8-12 singles record and 5-13 doubles record.

Against the Thunderbirds, however, he showed the flashes of brilliance that have led him to 114 career wins (third-most in school history), All-Big Sky honors as a sophomore, and the first-ever Grizzly to earn a national ranking alongside his partner Yannick Schmidl.

If the Grizzlies are to their third-straight title match, the leadership of Canellopoulos will go a long way toward steering the ship, and he'll need the help of some other key players as well.

At 10-4 overall and a league-best 7-1 on singles court three this season, Korkh, a junior from North Vancouver, BC, has quietly been Montana's strongest performer this season, adding reliable power to the middle of the Grizzlies lineup.

Shaffrey, a freshman from Ireland, earned Montana's Player of the Week nomination last week as the only Grizzly to go undefeated in singles and doubles against both Montana State and Southern Utah. At 13-8 he's carrying UM's best overall record, and his 7-1 league record on court five is the second-best in the conference.

Likewise for another of UM's standout freshmen, Ed Pudney. The Englishman's 5-3 mark on court four in league play will be key for the Griz in Phoenix as he enters the tournament on a tear, winning his last four matches all in straight sets.

Another key for the Griz will be the all-important doubles point. How important is it? Just ask Southern Utah.

Montana battled to a doubles win over the Thunderbirds, and the momentum gained visibly helped propel UM to the win that put them in the tourney. UM is 5-3 this season when they claim the point but have only managed three wins and nine losses when losing the point.

As such, Brown likes where his team is at heading into the tourney.

"I'm just proud of the focused effort. I felt like our season culminated on Sunday and we showed a lot of character when it really counted under real pressure," Brown added. "It makes me feel confident going into this weekend that in the face of adversity these guys' true character showed up and they played outstanding tennis."

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: This is the second-straight trip to the Big Sky tourney for PSU, who at 12-7 has put together the best record in program history.

Junior Tommy Edwards, a Portland native, leads the team with an overall record of 15-4, the third-best win percentage in the Big Sky and the second-most wins in PSU history. He also holds the second-best record (10-3) in court three play.

But when he squared off against Montana's court three ace Max Korkh earlier this season, it was Korkh who came out on top, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Lucas Castelo Branco is tied for seventh in PSU school history with 12 wins this season as well.

PSU swept last week's road trip West with wins over Idaho State and Weber State to close out the season.

Griz look to retain momentum at Big Sky championship

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Players Mentioned

Alex Canellopoulos

Pontus Hallgren

Max Korkh

Ed Pudney

Yannick Schmidl

Oisin Shaffrey

University of Montana Athletics