Three matches on tap for the Griz in Vegas

The Montana men's tennis squad heads to the desert this week for three nonconference duals against Weber State, New Mexico State, and UNLV at the Rebel's Fertitta Tennis Complex in Las Vegas.

The Griz enter the weekend riding high after upsetting Grand Canyon 6-1 in Boise last time out, with junior Ed Pudney being named Big Sky Player of the Week following a 2-0 singles performance over his opponents from Boise State and GCU.

Montana, who was picked to win the Big Sky regular-season championship for the first time since 2012, is now 1-1 heading into one of its most challenging weekends of the year.

THE SLATE: The Griz open play Friday afternoon against rival Weber State in an out-of-conference matchup between two of the league's strongest teams in recent years. UM and WSU start play at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29.

On Saturday, the Griz will play a doubleheader, with the first match against the home-team Rebels set to begin at 10 a.m. UM caps the weekend on Saturday against the Aggies at 3 p.m. There will be no live coverage of the matches in Las Vegas available.

A LOOK AT THE GRIZ: Montana's young squad got plenty of experience in trial-by-fire action against the Broncos and Antelopes last week, with four Grizzlies seeing their first-ever action in maroon and silver and two taking their first-ever wins.

Pudney picked up wins on courts one and two to take the team's only sweep of singles play. Oisin Shaffrey returned to form on court two with a straight-sets win against the 'Lopes, while freshmen Sam Nicholson and Moritz Stoeger won their first matches as Grizzlies. Pudney and Shaffrey posted a combined 24-5 record in the spring of 2020.

As it often does, the doubles round dictated the outcome of the matches. The Griz fell to Boise in a tiebreaker and dropped the match, but defeated the 'Lopes in a breaker and went on to win. Montana started the year having won 9 of 10 doubles points in 2020, the only team in UM history with that long of a streak.

A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS: With the Big Sky dividing into North and South divisions in 2021 and the top two teams from each advancing to the conference tourney, Weber State and Montana will tussle in a rare nonconference match this week.

Weber State, who was picked to finish third in the Big Sky preseason poll, is 0-1 after falling to BYU in their season-opener 6-1, with Sebastian Buxman wining on court three for WSU.

Montana last faced Weber on March 10, 2019, a 5-2 win for the Griz in Missoula. The two will face each other once again in nonconference play this coming April in Missoula.

A LOOK AT THE REBELS: UNLV enters the weekend 0-2 on the season after falling to the No. 1 ranked USC Trojans 4-0 and coming in one set short of knocking off Pac-12 power California last week at the ITA Kickoff Weekend event with a 4-3 loss in Los Angeles.

A LOOK AT THE AGGIES: New Mexico State enters the weekend at 0-0 on the year and will face UNLV in its season-opener on Friday before facing Montana in the afternoon match Saturday.

Montana will look for its second-straight upset of a team from the WAC against NMSU, who are led by senior Nicolas Buitrago, who went 7-4 in singles last spring to lead the team. The Aggies also return the doubles pair of Buitrago and Jordy Visser, back in action after going 6-5 in tandem play last spring.

UP NEXT: After a two-week hiatus, the Griz return to action in Walla Walla, Washington, in a doubleheader at Whitman College on Feb. 13.

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Players Mentioned

Sam Nicholson

Ed Pudney

Oisin Shaffrey

Moritz Stoeger

University of Montana Athletics