Griz fall to Broncos in season opener

Friday, January 22

Boise, Idaho

5 PM

Montana

Boise State

1/22/2021 10:50:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

BOISE, Idaho - With a lineup comprised of mostly new faces, the Montana men's tennis team dropped its season-opener to the Boise State Broncos 6-1 at the Boas Indoor Tennis Center in Boise on Friday.

The Grizzlies nearly pulled off an upset win in the doubles round, with the crucial point coming down to a tiebreaker on court one. However, the Broncos would control the singles round, clinching the win at 4-0 early on to ensure the victory.

Playing in his second tiebreaker match of the day, junior Ed Pudney picked up Montana's only win in singles after the overall match was sealed, defeating BSU's Luka Soskic in a superbreaker point, 2-6, 6-4 (10-6).

"Boise State is a very well-coached, top-50 caliber team in the nation. Considering it was our first match after a long layoff, and we played them on their home courts, I'm excited about the guy's intensity and effort. We just ran into a better team today. And that's OK. We put together a tough schedule for a reason, and we'll take lots of positives out of this," said head coach Jason Brown.

The Grizzlies put together a rally in the doubles round to force a tiebreaker in the deciding match, as UM fought to claim the crucial point for a third-straight year against the Broncos.

Boise State jumped out to an early lead in the round with Lucas Ridemar & Caden Moortgat beating Oisin Shaffrey and Chase Bartlett 6-3 on court two.

But the lead wouldn't last long as Pontus Hallgren and Moritz Stoeger broke the Broncos serve at 5-4 on court three and went on to beat Luka Soskic and Kyryll Kryvchunn 6-4 to tie the doubles round 1-1.

Meanwhile, in the decider on court one, Ed Pudney and Sam Nicholson also broke the Broncos serve at 5-4 to put the momentum on Montana's side, which they would carry all the way to match point. But Boise State's Blake Bayldon and Simon Costas would rally behind potent serving to force a tiebreaker and eventually go on to sneak past the Grizzlies 7-6 (5).

The tiebreaker win in the doubles put Boise State out to a 1-0 overall lead heading into the singles round.

With four of Montana's six players in the singles lineup playing their first-ever matches in maroon and silver, the energy of the doubles round would fall flat for UM, with the Broncos claiming straight-sets wins on courts four, one, and five to clinch the win.

The loss drops the Grizzlies to 0-1 on the early season. Montana now faces Grand Canyon University at 11 a.m. on Saturday to complete the two-match road trip.