Griz set to face Pilots, Vikings, in weekend trip to Portland

A little over a year ago, the Montana men's tennis team beat Portland State in Missoula to improve to 2-0 in Big Sky play at the start of the 2020 season.

Then, the pandemic hit, and it would be the last match the Griz would play until January of this year.

This week Montana gets the chance to open league play with a win over the Vikings again as the Grizzlies travel to Oregon for a pair of matches in the Rose City.

THE SLATE

Montana (3-6, 0-0 BSC) returns to action for the first time in two weeks on Saturday, March 20, with a non-conference dual against the Portland Pilots (5-2, 0-0 WCC) at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center.

The Griz then travel across town for their first Big Sky match of the season against Portland State (5-5, 2-0 BSC) on Sunday, March 21, at the Babette Horenstein Tennis Center.

Opening serves for both matches go up at Noon Mountain Time (11 a.m. PT), and links to live scoring, and a video stream against the Pilots are available at GoGriz.com.

GRIZ TRACKS

Montana heads to Portland looking to get back in the win column after a pair of losses to strong BYU and Utah squads in the Salt Lake City region in early March.

With two-week breaks built into this year's schedule to allow for COVID-delayed make-up matches, Montana's last matches before that were back on February 21, when UM swept Whitworth in a doubleheader in Missoula.

It's been a mixed bag of results for the Grizzlies this season after picking up a big win over Grand Canyon early in the year and taking a pair of wins over the Pirates, and the Griz are itching to retake the court.

"We're excited just to get to compete. PSU was the last match we got to play before COVID, so it feels like it's come full circle," said head coach Jason Brown.

"They're a good team, so the guys are really excited just to compete, and conference play really amps up the intensity. It's what we're here to do. We're excited to get to play a match that really matters."

SCOUTING THE PILOTS

Before they can open conference play, the Griz will have to get past the Pilots, who have already registered wins over three Big Sky teams this season.

Portland opened the season against cross-town foe PSU, taking a 5-2 win over the Vikings. They beat Eastern Washington 7-0 in early February and are coming off a 5-2 win over Montana State last weekend.

"It will be nice to open the trip against a really good WCC team," said Brown. "They're really well-coached. Aaron Gross is an absolute pro."

Montana last faced Portland in March of 2019 in the same two-match road swing through Oregon, with then-freshman Ed Pudney taking the only win for the Grizzlies with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Issa Yoshida on court four in a 5-1 UM loss.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS

While Montana won the last meeting between the Griz and Vikings in 2020 at home, PSU beat the Griz last time the two faced each other in Portland back in 2019 in a lackluster 4-3 loss for UM.

The Vikings got the best of the Grizzlies again later that season at the Big Sky Championship in Phoenix, advancing to the semifinal after beating UM 4-2.

With the two teams returning much of the same lineups from the past two seasons, the Griz know they are up against a wall with the Big Sky splitting into north and south divisions this season and only the top two teams from each booking a ticket.

"This first conference game is huge," said Pudney, who earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors in January.

"We've had some tough losses, and the guys know that, but getting a win here would give us some big momentum going into the other conference matches. The guys are ready to go."

In the meeting between the two at the end of the 2020 season, the Griz took the doubles point and won five of the six singles matches in straight sets to beat PSU 6-1.

PSU enters this year's match coming off a 6-1 win over Montana State on March 13, and also has wins over EWU and Pacific, Linfield, and Lewis & Clark College.

SCHEDULE NOTE: Montana will pick up another non-conference match this season with the addition of Air Force on a neutral court in Pocatello, Idaho, on April 3. The Griz will then face Idaho State the following day on April 4.

Griz set to face Pilots, Vikings, in weekend trip to Portland

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Players Mentioned

Ed Pudney

University of Montana Athletics