Shaffrey and Stoeger win as Griz fall to Pilots 5-2

Saturday, March 20

Portland, Ore.

NOON

Montana

Portland

Shaffrey and Stoeger win as Griz fall to Pilots 5-2

3/20/2021 4:55:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Oisin Shaffrey earned a straight-sets win on court two, and Moritz Stoeger won in a superbreaker on court six to highlight Montana's day as the Grizzly men's tennis team fell to the Portland Pilots 5-2 to open their two-match trip to Portland

With the loss, Montana drops to 3-7 on the season heading into conference play while Portland improves to 6-2, with four of those wins coming over Big Sky opponents.

"I felt like our season started today. This felt like a fully engaged college tennis match. It was a battle on every court, and we had our chances, but Portland is a very good team," said head coach Jason Brown.

"It was a good match. We just had a few things not go our way, but I feel like we're in a good place, and we're excited to play Portland State."

The Grizzlies got out to a promising start in the doubles round against the Pilots, with the senior/freshman duo of Chase Bartlett and Stoeger winning 6-4 on court three over UP's Oberg/Hibi pair.

After Ed Pudney and Milo Benn lost 6-3 on court one, Portland's Pankin/Tvedt pair snuck out a tight 7-5 win on court two over Shaffrey and Pontus Hallgren to open the match with the crucial doubles point and a 1-0 lead.

In singles play, Shaffrey, a junior, got the Griz back in the match with a straight-sets win over Portland's Eleftherios Neos. Shaffrey cruised to victory in the first set before holding on in a tiebreaker to win the second 6-2, 7-6(2) to make it a 2-1 match after Benn lost on court three.

On court one, fellow junior Ed Pudney bounced back from a close first set loss to win the second in a tiebreaker, but ran out of steam in the decider to lose 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-1, giving Portland a 3-1 overall lead.

Montana then dropped two more matches in straight sets with Bartlett on court three and freshman Guillermo Martin on court five.

Stoeger capped the match with a marathon win for the Grizzlies on court six, defeating UP's Leo Hibi 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (11) to make it a 5-2 final in favor of the Pilots.

Montana now turns its attention to Portland State in the first Big Sky match of the season for the Griz. The Vikings enter the match as winners of two-straight after beating Montana State 6-1 a week ago and Seattle 6-1 on Friday.

With the conference split into a north and south division to reduce travel during the pandemic, only the top two seeds advance to the championship tournament in Phoenix in May.

The Vikings are already out to a 2-0 start in league play with wins over MSU and Eastern Washington, placing extra importance on Sunday's match if the Griz are to return to the Big Sky tourney for a 30th-straight year.

Montana Men's Tennis
Montana vs Portland (3/20/2021)
Portland 5, Montana 2

3/20/2021 at Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)

Singles competition
1. PANKIN, Sema (UP) def. PUDNEY, Ed (UM) 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1
2. SHAFFREY, Oisin (UM) def. NEOS, Eleftherios (UP) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)
3. YOSHIDA, Issa (UP) def. BENN, Milo (UM) 6-3, 6-2
4. OBERG, Nicklas (UP) def. BARTLETT, Chase (UM) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)
5. TVEDT, Nikolas (UP) def. MARTIN, Guillermo (UM) 6-2, 6-1
6. STOEGER, Moritz (UM) def. HIBI, Leo (UP) 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (13-11)

Doubles competition
1. YOSHIDA, Issa/NEOS, Eleftherios (UP) def. PUDNEY, Ed/BENN, Milo (UM) 6-3
2. PANKIN, Sema/TVEDT, Nikolas (UP) def. SHAFFREY, Oisin/HALLGREN, Pontus (UM) 7-5
3. BARTLETT, Chase/STOEGER, Moritz (UM) def. OBERG, Nicklas/HIBI, Leo (UP) 6-4

Match Notes
Montana 3-7
Portland 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,2,1,5,4,6)