Griz beat Cats 5-2 to claim Brawl of the Wild win

Saturday, April 24

Missoula, Mont.

3 PM

Montana

Montana State

4/24/2021 10:44:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Freshman Guillermo Martin once again played the clincher as the Montana men's tennis team picked up a dramatic 5-2 win over Montana State in the annual Brawl of the Wild match at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula Saturday.

Montana needed a tiebreaker to win the opening doubles point, then hung on to claim the overall team victory with wins on courts five and six to extend UM's home win streak to 11 matches, having not lost in Missoula now for two-straight seasons.

With the win, the Griz finish the regular season at 9-10 overall and 3-1 in Big Sky play, putting them in a three-way tie for first place in the league's north division. Meanwhile, the Bobcats finish the year at 4-9 and 1-3 in Big Sky action.

"I thought it was a great college tennis match. I love the rivalry aspect to it," said head coach Jason Brown.

"Being at home is a huge advantage, and the Bobcats played really well and fought on every court. I think the difference was our comeback in doubles and the fact that we have a chance to move on, and they don't. There was probably a little more motivation on our side today."

Montana took the early 1-0 advantage in the match thanks to a nail-biting, come-from-behind, tiebreaker win in the doubles round that was as narrow as possible.

On court two, Bartlett/Hallgren got off to a slow start, falling behind 5-2 early on. Then, on senior day, Bartlett caught fire. The Grizzly duo went on to win five-straight games and fend off three match points to flip the momentum and pull out a 7-5 win.

"It was amazing, like a dream, you know," said Bartlett.

"When we were down triple match, we believed in ourselves, that we'd compete until the end. That's what separates some matches like that. So, it was amazing that we could show our teammates that even though we had our back against the wall, we still backed ourselves in the big moments," said Bartlett.

Shortly after, MSU's Sitar and Van Dijk pair outlasted Montana's Ed Pudney and Oisin Shaffrey 7-5, leaving the doubles point to be decided on court three.

In the decider, Martin and fellow freshman Motitz Stoeger were neck and neck with MSU's Monteiro/Mosvold pair, with the outcome coming down to a tiebreaker with the two teams tied 6-6.

When push came to shove in the breaker, the Griz took control. After splitting the first two points, Stoeger and Martin broke MSU's serve to take a 4-2 advantage. The UM duo rode the momentum from there and punctuated the win with an ace from Stoeger on the final serve to win 7-2 in the breaker, clinching the doubles round for the Griz.

"I thought Chase Bartlett played super motivated in his last potential college match and he took over like a senior would and it was outstanding," said Brown.

"It was also nice that the two freshmen on court three sealed it up. It was great to see both generations, the guys leaving the program and the future of the program finding success."

Montana extended its lead to 2-0 in short order when the singles round started.

Junior Oisin Shaffrey cruised to victory on court two, defeating MSU's Joaquin Espinoza in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 to keep the Grizzlies momentum going.

Montana State then got on the board when Nejc Sitar defeated Bartlett in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 to make it a 2-1 overall match.

Then, in a crucial result for Montana, junior Ed Pudney gritted out a win over MSU's Daan Van Dijk in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (3) to convert a tiebreaker into points for the Griz, extending UM's lead to 3-1.

Once again, the Cats clawed back on court four when Brad Buckland defeated Stoeger 7-6, 7-5, trimming Montana's lead to 3-2 with two matches left to play and the overall result anything but certain.

Nearly two weeks ago, Martin clinched the match win against Idaho.

History repeated itself Saturday when the Grizzly freshman took down Bozeman native Macros Zelver 6-4, 6-3 on court three to clinch the overall win for the Grizzlies 4-1 on court six, just hours after clinching the doubles point for UM as well.

With the win already in hand, Pontus Hallgren put the icing on the cake for the Griz, extending Montana's lead to 5-2 after defeating MSU's Jakob Mosvold 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

With three teams (Idaho, Portland State, and Montana) all tied atop the Big Sky north division standings at 3-1, the Grizzlies now await a conference decision to determine their postseason fate. Due to a dispute over the league's tiebreaker policy, the Big Sky will decide Sunday which two of the three teams tied in the north division standings will advance on to the conference championship tourney in Phoenix next week.

"I think I'm pretty well convinced that we are playing the best tennis in the Big Sky right now. I want a chance to prove it on the court," said Brown.

"I'm going to say some big grizzly prayers to whoever I need to to put us through to Phoenix and give us a chance to show off how hard we've worked," said Brown.

Bartlett echoed Brown's sentiment, hoping he gets the chance to play one more match for the Griz.

"I think it's a great opportunity. When you look at our team, we're a championship-caliber team. We've had some tough losses, but also some great wins. We beat Gonzaga when they were ranked 62. And right now, we're three and one in the conference," Bartlett said.

"It would be a great, great chance for us to go out there and play our game, play relaxed because there's no pressure. I think if we get a chance we'll take advantage of that for sure."

Tennis Match Results
Montana State vs Montana
4/24/2021 at Missoula, Mont.
(PEAK Racquet Club)

Montana 5, Montana State 2

Singles competition
1. PUDNEY, Ed (UM) def. VAN DIJK, Daan (MSU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)
2. SHAFFREY, Oisin (UM) def. ESPINOZA, Joaquin (MSU) 6-1, 6-1
3. SITAR, Nejc (MSU) def. BARTLETT, Chase (UM) 6-3, 6-3
4. BUCKLAND, Brad (MSU) def. STOEGER, Moritz (UM) 7-6 (1-7), 7-5
5. HALLGREN, Pontus (UM) def. MOSVOLD, Jakob (MSU) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
6. MARTIN, Guillermo (UM) def. ZELVER, Marcos (MSU) 6-4, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. SITAR, Nejc/VAN DIJK, Daan (MSU) def. PUDNEY, Ed/SHAFFREY, Oisin (UM) 7-5
2. BARTLETT, Chase/HALLGREN, Pontus (UM) def. ESPINOZA, Joaquin/BUCKLAND, Brad (MSU) 7-5
3. STOEGER, Moritz/MARTIN, Guillermo (UM) def. MONTEIRO, Manuel/MOSVOLD, Jakob (MSU) 7-6 (7-2)

Match Notes:
Montana State 4-8, 1-2 BSC
Montana 8-10, 2-1 BSC
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (2,3,1,4,6,5)
Official: Delman/Schwartz