Griz open road swing with 5-2 win over George Fox

The Montana men's tennis remained undefeated on the season with a hard-fought 5-2 win over D-III powerhouse George Fox University Friday night to open its three-match road trip to Oregon.

The No. 63 Griz improved to 7-0 to extend the team's best start in program history, while the Bruins fell to 2-1, with both of their wins coming against D-I opponents.

Montana opened the match with a sweep of the doubles round and eased to three straight-set singles wins to clinch the match at 4-0. The Bruins then picked up two wins, with one coming over UM's Moritz Stoeger, who retired early due to an arm injury, and the other coming in a superbreaker over Oisin Shaffrey.

Grizzly senior Pontus Hallgren capped off the match with a win for UM to make the final score 5-2.

"It was a strange match. The guys came out, took care of business, and got the win. Then between the injury, cold conditions, and loud environment, it felt like we lost momentum a bit. But, in the end, it was a pretty straightforward win. We got everything we wanted out of it," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I think it's pretty obvious from this match that we've got a target on our back. Teams will have nothing to lose playing against us, and George Fox played like it. And hats off to them, they should. But we were up to the test."

In doubles action, UM's No. 1 pair Ed Pudney and Oisin Shaffrey stayed unbeaten at 7-0 with a 6-4 win over GFU's Leach/Lemaitre duo. Lawrence Sciglitano and Moritz Stoeger clinched the opening point for UM with a 6-3 win on court two. Milo Benn and Gustav Theilgaard also remained unbeaten in doubles at 3-0 as a pair with a 6-4 win on court three.

Gustav Theilgaard opened singles with yet another straight-set win for the freshman to put him at 5-0 this season, beating Rox Rogers 6-4, 6-1 on court three.

Milo Benn also breezed by his opponent, beating Ryan Olson on court five 6-2, 6-2 to put UM out to a 3-0 team lead.

Ed Pudney clinched the win for the Griz on court one, beating D-III All-American Will Leach 6-3, 6-1 to put UM up for good 4-0.

Following Stoeger's retirement due to injury, the Bruins picked up their second win of the night with Luke Lemaitre scrapping to a come-from-behind three-set win over Shaffrey 2-6, 7-6(3), 10-8 to make the team score 4-2.

Returning to action from sickness, senior Pontus Hallgren bounced back from a first-set loss to win the final match of the day for UM, beating Camden Camacho 5-7, 6-2, 10-4 and closing out the match 5-2.

Montana continues its three-match road trip to Oregon against Pacific University on Saturday at Noon (MT) before opening Big Sky Conference play against Portland State on Sunday at 11 a.m. (MT).

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Milo Benn

Pontus Hallgren

Ed Pudney

Lawrence Sciglitano

Oisin Shaffrey

Moritz Stoeger

Gustav Theilgaard

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