Griz return to action with pair of matches in Boise

Off to a 2-0 start to the duals season with an upset already under its belt, the Montana men's tennis team returns to action this weekend, traveling to Boise for a pair of non-conference dual matches following a two-week hiatus.

The Griz open their trip to the Gem State on Friday at 5 p.m. against the host Boise State Broncos (2-3) and finish with a neutral site dual against Seattle University (1-5) on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Both matches will be held at Boise State's Boas Indoor Tennis Center, with BSU providing live scoring updates for their home match against UM. Links to live scoring can be found at GoGriz.com.

The last time the Griz took the courts, they put a feather in their caps early in the season with a 4-2 win over Air Force and a 7-0 sweep of Eastern Washington to start the year.

With three weeks until the start of Big Sky play, the Grizzlies now travel to Boise looking to keep the momentum rolling while at the same time sharpening their game against quality competition.

"While we won, no one was really satisfied with how they played in the season opener. I love having those early matches to get us motivated," said head coach Jason Brown.

"So, this week we're looking to go down and challenge a really good Boise team. We haven't played Seattle in a long time, and so getting them on a neutral site will give us a good indicator of where we're at."

Some teams would rest on their laurels with an upset on the opening week, but not these Grizzlies. The past two weeks with no matches have given UM plenty of time to refocus and dial in the match fitness as the Big Sky season inches closer.

"We've had a great preparation the last two weeks, just a very intense training block, I think everybody improved. Now we're all ready to go to Boise and see what's possible," said sophomore Moritz Stoeger, who picked up a doubles win over BSU with Pontus Hallgren a year ago.

"We'll have to play at our best, and we have to fight hard, but I think we have to have the ability to pull out wins on almost every position in the lineup."

The Griz will feel right at home when they head south this weekend, too, having played the Broncos in a dual match or at a fall tournament in Boise every year dating back to 2010.

UM has never come away with a team win in that time, however, but has been knocking on the door each of the last three seasons. Last year Ed Pudney got a win for UM on court two, the Griz fell 3-4 in 2020, and 2-4 in 2019.

One Grizzly, in particular, is more familiar than most with Boise State, with junior Lawrence Sciglitano having suited up for the Broncos last year before transferring to UM.

Sciglitano will look to carry on the success he had on week one this year when he went undefeated in singles and doubles to earn Big Sky Player of the Week in his first week of duals play as a Grizzly.

Scouting the Broncos: Boise State will play its first home matches of the year this weekend with the Griz, RedHawks, and University of North Dakota, all vising the Treasure Valley.

Led by Director of Tennis Beck Roghaar - now in his first year of coaching the BSU men after more than a decade leading the women's team – the Broncos have picked up a pair of wins over Portland State and Abilene Christian so far this season.

However, BSU has only managed two individual wins in their three losses, falling to Oregon 7-0, Washington 5-2, and Baylor 7-0. In that time, however, Boise State's Pedro Liborio has been named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Week twice,

Scouting the Redhawks: Seattle picked up its first win of the season a week ago 4-3 over Oral Roberts in Bozeman in a round-robin weekend with Montana State.

Freshman Michael Frank clinched the win on court five in three sets a day after SU dropped a 1-6 decision to the Bobcats.

In the leadup to last week's win over Oral Roberts, Seattle had dropped five straight to Oregon, Gonzaga, Nevada, and twice to Washington.

// Griz Tracks //

• Montana extended its unprecedented home winning streak in the week-one sweep of Air Force and EWU. The Griz are now 23-2 in Missoula since 2018 and have not lost at home for two-straight seasons.

• Last time Montana traveled to Boise for a dual, the Griz opened the 2021 season with a 1-6 loss to the Broncos, then rebounded to beat Grand Canyon 6-1.

Against BSU, UM's Stoeger/Hallgren pair got a doubles win, and the Griz were a tiebreaker away from clinching the point on court one with Ed Pudney and Sam Nicholson falling 7-6 (5). Pudney also won his singles match on court two and walked away with Big Sky Player of the Week honors.

• On paper, Montana enters the weekend at BSU as slight underdogs against the home team and favorites over Seattle. The Griz are currently carrying a 71.24 Universal Tennis Rating (UTR), with Boise State sitting at 72.47 and the Redhawks at 65.75.

• Montana was picked to finish third in the preseason Big Sky Conference poll at the start of the year behind defending league champ NAU and Sac St.

Griz return to action with pair of matches in Boise

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Players Mentioned

Pontus Hallgren

Sam Nicholson

Ed Pudney

Lawrence Sciglitano

Moritz Stoeger

University of Montana Athletics