Griz carry win streak into pair of home matches

Like it is every year, one of the top goals for the Montana men's tennis team is to punch its ticket to the Big Sky championship tournament, just as they have without fail since 1991.

Riding a five-match win streak, the Griz (6-3) officially set out to return to Phoenix for the 2020 conference tournament with their opening weekend of Big Sky play, hosting Northern Colorado (4-6, 1-1 BSC) on Saturday and Portland State (4-3, 2-0 BSC) on Sunday in a pair of duals that could be pivotal come April.

Montana faces the Bears at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, followed by a dual with the Vikings on Sunday, March 8, at 3 p.m. at the Peak Racquet Club south of Missoula on Blue Mountain Road. Admission to both matches is free of charge.

COVERAGE: Links to live scoring for both matches can be found at GoGriz.com, with regular updates on the team's twitter feed @MontanaGrizTEN.

Montana enters the pair of matches in full stride as a team, having won five-straight duals, eight-straight doubles points, and notched an upset over Nevada to highlight nonconference play. There were also plenty of positives to take away from two of UM's three losses, both razor-thin 3-4 losses to both Gonzaga and Boise State in Spokane.

All combined, head coach Jason Brown likes where his young team stands heading into conference play.

"I felt like we didn't have any bad losses in the nonconference slate, so I feel good about where we're at as a team," said Brown.

"One of our big goals was to make sure we defend home court throughout, especially in Big Sky play. Road wins are tough. So, if we take care of business at home this season, we're probably going to be able to tick-off a lot of our other goals."

One of the biggest reasons for Montana's early success has been the ever-crucial doubles point. A win in the doubles round builds momentum for a team heading into singles, and UM has had a ton of it.

The Griz have won 19 of the last 24 individual doubles matches they've played, thanks, in part to some of the younger stars on this year's squad.

Sophomores Oisin Shaffrey and Pontus Hallgren are both 6-1 on the doubles court as individuals, followed closely by fellow sophomore Ed Pudney, who sits at 6-2.

It's a big change from last year's squad, who, at times, struggled in doubles. The difference? For Brown, one of the biggest reasons is simply that his team is a year older and wiser.

"You blink in the doubles format, and it's over," said Brown. "Now we have a bunch of sophomores and senior leaders. No one is blinking. They're just staying in the moment, and we've really rose to the occasion this year in spots where maybe we didn't last year because it was new to us."

Seniors and sophomores alike will have their hands full this weekend, however, with Northern Colorado and Portland State coming to town each riding some momentum of their own.

UNC picked up it's first Big Sky win of the season last week with an easy 6-1 win over Eastern Washington and followed that up with a 6-1 win over Seattle University in Greeley. The performance led by Thomas Pundey (Ed Pudney's brother), who was named Big Sky player of the Weed for the first time in his career on Wednesday.

Portland State is led by first-year head coach Vetu Mam, who inherited a Viking squad that had its best-ever season in 2019, advancing to the Big Sky quarterfinals with a 2-4 win over Montana in Phoenix.

PSU looks to have retained that momentum this season, coming to Missoula with a four-match win streak of its own that includes an impressive 4-3 win over the defending conference champion Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in Portland.

For senior Ludvig Hallgren, he knows extending the team's win streak won't be easy, even on its home courts.

"We're working toward winning a Big Sky championship, so every single match matters now to get that bye, to get that first or second seed in the tournament," said Hallgren.

"We have to be super consistent, get each other's back, and get the energy going. We know we'll need it. We've had some good wins, but we need to bring it up a notch this weekend."

The pair of matches are part of a big weekend of tennis in Missoula for the UM men's and women's teams, with the Grizzly women playing Portland on Friday at 12:30 p.m., and Montana State on Sunday at 9 a.m.

The Grizzly men return home next week for the Brawl of the Wild match against Montana State on March 15.

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Players Mentioned

Ludvig Hallgren

Pontus Hallgren

Ed Pudney

Oisin Shaffrey

University of Montana Athletics