Griz look to remain unbeaten on road trip to Portland

Montana @ George Fox
Friday, Feb. 25, 5 p.m. (MT)
George Fox Multi-Use Facility
Live Streaming

Montana @ Pacific
Saturday, Feb. 26, Noon (MT)
Holce Tennis Courts
Live Streaming

Montana @ Portland State
Sunday, Feb. 27, 11 a.m. (MT)
Tualatin Hills Athletic Center
Live coverage: N/A

MISSOULA, Mont. – Off to its best start in program history, the Montana men's tennis team will look to remain unbeaten this week with a three-match tour to the Portland metro area in Oregon.

The Griz, who made their first-ever appearance in the ITA national ranking Wednesday at No. 63, are set to play a pair of tune-up matches against D-III teams before opening Big Sky Conference play at Portland State on Sunday.

Montana (6-0, 0-0 BSC) opens the weekend against George Fox University on Friday, Feb. 25, at 5 p.m. (MT), then faces Pacific University the following day at noon (MT). The Griz will then face the Vikings on Sunday, Feb. 27, at 11 a.m. (MT).

Having already dispatched two Mountain West teams in Air Force and Boise State, UM will need to keep the momentum as they head to the Rose City following a week-long training block.

Despite being D-III teams, George Fox and Pacific are traditionally strong, with George Fox off to a 2-0 start with two wins over D-I teams (including Portland State) this season. Montana has also struggled at Portland State in recent years with two-straight road losses to the Vikings and a 3-3 record in Portland over the last decade.

Grizzly head coach Jason Brown knows his veteran squad is going to have to continue to improve over the weekend if they are to remain unbeaten.

"We're excited to get back out and compete this week and face some adversity from some very legitimate D-III teams on their home courts, which I think will get us ready for Portland State," said Brown.

"The guys know that we've got to get a lot better. Having this momentum early in the season is great because there's zero rest on our laurels. We're way more focused on having to show that we've earned it. So, the guys are excited for that challenge."

In opening Big Sky play, the Griz will have a point to prove if they are to advance to the Big Sky tournament again this season. After all, it was a 1-6 loss to the Vikings in Portland that caused UM to miss out on the 2021 conference championship tourney.

"We're all so excited. We've been practicing for a month and a half now, and we're just excited to start conference play off. All the lads are playing well and I think we have a lot of momentum going this weekend," said senior Pontus Hallgren.

Despite being 1-3 against PSU in the last three years, Brown is confident his squad's mix of experience and youthful talent will be able to hand the pressure of conference play.

"Portland State has some veterans at the top of their lineup, but so do we. We're going to look to our seniors to take care of business, get off the court as soon as they can with some victories and take some pressure off the younger guys in their first conference match," added Brown.

"I've got complete faith in these guys that if it comes down to any one of them to clinch they're ready to do it. We've got a team full of guys who want to step up and they've shown it so far this season."

//GRIZ TRACKS//

NATIONAL RANKING: With wins over Air Force (No. 69) and Boise State, Montana picked up its first-ever national ranking on Wednesday from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association at No. 63. Montana was the third-highest team from the ITA Mountain Region in the top-75 this week behind Utah (26) and Denver (54). Northern Arizona was the only other Big Sky team to earn a ranking at No. 68.

3-FOR-3: Montana has played three weeks' worth of competition so far this season, and has three Big Sky Conference Player of the Week awards to show for it with the team off to a 6-0 start.

Junior Lawrence Sciglitano won the first player of the week award for the Griz in January after leading UM to the win over Air Force. Senior Ed Pudney was named Player of the Week in early February after the road sweep of Boise State and Seattle. Freshman Gustav Theilgaard earned UM's third weekly honor from the league after dominating against Whitman and Whitworth, allowing only 13 single points in two 6-0, 6-0 wins.

SUPER SENIORS: Montana has three seniors each entering the weekend with a 4-1 singles record, and one senior doubles pair at a perfect 6-0.

Milo Benn, who clinched the win over Air Force, Ed Pudney, and Oisin Shaffrey are all 4-1 entering the weekend in singles. Pudney and Shaffrey, UM's No. 1 doubles pair, is undefeated at 6-0.

Gustav Theilgaard is Montana's only undefeated singles player in the regular starting lineup at 4-0.

STRONG IN THE MIDDLE: Montana's middle of the lineup in singles is undefeated so far this season, with players on courts three and four carrying a combined 11-0 record. Sciglitano, Shaffrey, and Theilgaard are all 2-0 on court three, while Benn, Moritz Stoeger, and Theilgaard are all a combined 5-0 on court four.

Pudney has kept the No. 1 position on lock down at 5-1 on the first court all season.

SCOUTING GEORGE FOX: The Bruins are out to a 2-0 start this season, with both victories coming over D-I opponents. GFU beat Portland State 5-2 on Feb. 11, and followed that up with a 4-3 win over Seattle University on Feb. 18.

Now in his third year, head coach Jeff Cero's squad is led by Will Leach on court one in singles and his partner Luke Lemaitre in doubles, both of whom earned All-America honors last season.

Last year, the Bruins finished 12-5 and 7-0 in league play to advance to the NCAA D-III championship tourney where they fell to Washington-St. Louis in quarterfinal.

SCOUTING PACIFIC: The Boxers fell to George Fox in the 2021 NWC tournament championship, finishing the season 13-3 and 7-1 in league play last year. They've opened the 2022 duals season with competitive losses to the same two teams GFU beat, falling 3-4 to Portland State and 3-6 to Seattle U.

Interim head coach Brian Jackson's team won the doubles against Portland State with wins on courts one and three, but only picked up bottom-of-the-order wins on courts five and six in the 3-4 loss to the Vikings. Pacific also won the doubles round against Seattle.

SCOUTING PORTLAND STATE: The Vikings are out to a 2-4 start to the season with no D-I wins under their belts, beating Pacific and Lewis-Clark State and taking losses to Boise State (0-7), George Fox (2-5), Washington (0-7), and Portland (0-7).

In 2021, Head Coach Vitu Mam led PSU to a decisive 6-1 win over Montana that gave UM the tiebreaker over the Griz to send the Vikings to the Big Sky tourney, where they fell to NAU 4-0.

Griz look to remain unbeaten on road trip to Portland

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Players Mentioned

Milo Benn

Pontus Hallgren

Ed Pudney

Lawrence Sciglitano

Oisin Shaffrey

Moritz Stoeger

Gustav Theilgaard

University of Montana Athletics