Griz return to the road for a trio of matches

The Montana men's tennis team has already notched one upset on the schedule this season with a win over Nevada and is coming off a weakened were two more near-upsets slipped through their fingers against Gonzaga and Boise State.

Now the Griz face a challenge of a different kind as they return to the road for a pair of matches against two of the top D-III teams in the nation and a regional NAIA powerhouse as UM dials in for the fast-approaching conference schedule.

Montana (1-3) heads to central Washington on Saturday, Feb. 15, for a doubleheader against George Fox University (0-1) and Whitman College (0-2) in Walla Walla before returning east on Highway 12 to face Lewis-Clark State (1-3) in Lewiston, Idaho, on Sunday.

Links to live streaming and scoring of Saturday's matches at Whitman can be found at GoGriz.com.

While the names might not carry as much panache as a Utah or Nevada, George Fox, and Whitman, enter the match as two of the top-ten D-III teams in the western region, with Whitman checking in as the No. 27 team in the nation at that level.

George Fox is led by a pair of the top-50 D-III players in the nation as well this week, with junior Will Leach ranked No. 12 this week and sophomore Luke Lamaitre coming in at No. 50. Similarly, Whitman is steered by Ben Kirsh, a junior currently ranked No. 18 in the country.

For UM head coach Jason Brown, the packed schedule will pay dividends down the line, while giving the young team the chance to try different combinations and clear the benches.

"I like that we're going to get a bunch of matches in a condensed period of time against really good teams, which will continue to make us a little more road-tough," said Brown.

"We're excited to continue to compete. I felt this last weekend we had some bright spots and some chances against teams that were quite a bit better than us, and now we need to respond playing smaller schools, which presents a different type of pressure.

"We need to go out there and take care of business and continue to improve for conference."

Despite dropping two of the last three matches, Montanan's confidence will be bolstered by the emergence of sophomore Oisin Shaffrey, who earned the first Big Sky Conference after going 2-0 in singles against the Zags and Broncos in three-set marathons.

As a freshman, Shaffrey went 7-3 in Big Sky play and is shaping up to once again be a force to be reckoned with in his second season in maroon and silver.

Fellow sophomore Ed Pudney has also come on early in his second season, going 2-2 in both singles and doubles with wins over Nevada and Gonzaga to his name. At three and four in UM's singles lineup, respectively, Pudney and Shaffrey are helping make the middle of Montana 's lineup one of the most formidable in the league. With freshman Cameron Isbell as his partner, Pudney's doubles is also off to a good start at 2-1 as a pair.

Also in doubles, the senior pairing of Ludvig Hallgren and Max Korkh has been steady against top competition, sitting at 2-2 this season after sweeping wins over GU and BSU last weekend.

Following the weekend triple-header, the Griz return to Missoula for their home opener on Feb. 22 against Whitworth before hosting three-straight Big Sky matches in early March against Northern Colorado, Portland State, and the Brawl of the Wild match against Montana State.

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Players Mentioned

Ludvig Hallgren

Cameron Isbell

Max Korkh

Ed Pudney

Oisin Shaffrey

University of Montana Athletics