Griz rebound to bounce Vandals 4-3

Friday, April 9

Missoula, Mont.

12:30 PM

Montana

Idaho

4/9/2021 7:47:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

With the outcome of a crucial Big Sky match riding on his shoulders, Grizzly freshman Guillermo Martin ground out a huge win on court six for the Montana men's tennis team to clinch a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Idaho Vandals on Friday.

The Grizzlies came up on the wrong end of a tiebreaker in the doubles point to fall behind to the Vandals 0-1 early in the match at the Peak Racquet Club. But UM went on to win four of the five singles matches at the bottom of the lineup to seal the team victory, capped by Martin's heroics in the final match of the day.

"He showed a lot of nerve in a spot that's really difficult for a freshman. The building gets all sorts of quiet, and when it really came down to it, he stepped up," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I thought he played better as the match went on too. Guillermo has had some ups and downs this season, so I'm really proud of him."

Gallery: (4-9-2021) MTEN:: cs Idaho 4.9.21

Montana improves to 7-10 on the season and 1-1 in Big Sky play and has now won three-straight over the Vandals, having not lost a regular-season match to Idaho since 2017. The Vandals drop to 5-5 and 1-1 in conference play, with Montana now holding a tiebreaker that could pay dividends come tournament time.

The Grizzlies started the match by splitting results on courts two and three in the doubles round to set up a photo finish for the opening team point of the day.

With a quick UM loss on court three, Grizzlies Chase Bartlett and Pontus Hallgren breezed their way to a 6-1 win at the second position to level the score.

In the deciding match, UM's Ed Pudney and Oisin Shaffrey went back and forth with Idaho's Bascon/Casino pair (who had been nationally ranked a year ago), with neither team able to break serve.

Pudney and Shaffrey then got the extra point they needed and jumped ahead of the Idaho duo 6-5, but Bascon and Casino would storm back to steam three-straight match points from the Griz, and at the same time, steal the momentum. The UM duo would lose the doubles match 7-6 (4), and the Vandals went on to a 1-0 team led.

However, the Idaho lead wouldn't last long in singles, with Montana's Moritz Stoeger steamrolling Idaho's Alejandro Salvador on court four 6-0, 6-1 to level the team score 1-1 and begin the UM comeback.

Shaffrey then put the Griz in the lead almost as quickly with a straight-set win on court two, defeating UI's Matteo Masala 6-2, 6-4, to put UM up 2-1 early in the singles round. Bascon then tied the match once again for Idaho with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Pudney on court one that leveled the team score 2-2.

After Bartlett dropped a three-setter on court three to give Idaho a brief 3-2 lead, Hallgren, Montana's hero from the win over Gonzaga two weeks ago, came through with another big win for the Griz. The junior knotted the match 3-3 with a dominant 6-1, 6-3 win on court five that set up Martin for the team win.

With all eyes at the Peak on him, the freshman Spaniard gutted out a tiebreaker win in the first set 7-6 (3) but then fell behind early in the second 4-1 to UI's big-hitting Adam Taylor.

The lead wouldn't last long as Martin flipped the switch and rattled off six-straight games to put Taylor and the Vandals away for good 7-5, with UM taking the 4-3 overall win.

"It's the first time I experienced something like that, so I was nervous because I wanted to get the W for the team, that was so important for us. But the atmosphere was incredible, with all my teammates here watching and coaches supporting me. It made it easier," said a glowing Martin post-match.

"It feels very good. Very good. I think it will bring a lot of confidence for us in the rest of the season, so I'm really proud of the whole team."

Montana will need all the confidence it can get in the tail end of the season, too, as the Grizzlies look to make a run to the Big Sky Championship tourney.

UM has two more matches left on the schedule – both at home - needing a sweep to clinch a top-two spot in the Big Sky North Division. The Griz host Eastern Washington on April 17, then finish the regular season with the Brawl of the Wild on April 24 in Missoula.

"I think we've put ourselves in a good spot," said Brown.

"We sort of had our back against the wall today, but we checked one of the three boxes off at the end of the season. Now we need to gear up for Eastern Washington next week."

Idaho vs Montana (4/9/2021)

Montana 4, Idaho 3
4/9/2021 at Missoula, Mont. (PEAK Racquet Club)

Singles competition
1. Francisco Bascon (UI) def. PUDNEY, Ed (UM) 6-4, 6-3
2. SHAFFREY, Oisin (UM) def. Matteo Masala (UI) 6-2, 6-4
3. Bruno Casino (UI) def. BARTLETT, Chase (UM) 6-2, 0-6, 6-2
4. STOEGER, Moritz (UM) def. Alejandro Salvador (UI) 6-0, 6-1
5. HALLGREN, Pontus (UM) def. Vivek Ramesh (UI) 6-1, 6-3
6. MARTIN, Guillermo (UM) def. Adam Taylor (UI) 7-6 (7-3), 7-5

Doubles competition
1. Francisco Bascon/Bruno Casino (UI) def. PUDNEY, Ed/SHAFFREY, Oisin (UM) 7-6 (7-4)
2. BARTLETT, Chase/HALLGREN, Pontus (UM) def. Matteo Masala/Alex Asenov (UI) 6-1
3. Alejandro Salvador/Adam Taylor (UI) def. STOEGER, Moritz/BENN, Milo (UM) 6-1

Match Notes
Idaho 5-5, 1-1 BSC
Montana 7-10, 1-1 BSC
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,2,1,3,5,6)
Official: Delman/Schwartz T-4:00 A-32