Inspiring performance from Pudney rallies Griz to win over Hornets

Tuesday, April 12

Missoula, Mont.

11 AM

Montana

Sacramento State

Photo by: Derek Johnson

Inspiring performance from Pudney rallies Griz to win over Hornets

4/12/2022 5:44:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

"Unbelievable. That's one of those things you might never see again. Just a phenomenal effort and phenomenal composure."

Montana men's tennis head coach Jason Brown was at a loss for words from what he saw from senior No. 1 Ed Pudney on Tuesday at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula.

"I just don't have enough superlatives for his performance today."

Still recovering from two sprained ankles, Pudney battled off a whopping six match points to beat defending Big Sky Freshman of the Year Mark Keki in a thrilling third-set tiebreaker, helping the Grizzlies seal a 5-2, come-from-behind win over Sacramento State.

The victory gets the Griz back in the win column at 13-2 and 5-1 in conference play this season after dropping their first league match of the year to NAU last week.

In the midst of one of the most historic seasons in program history, the win also puts UM at the top of the Big Sky standings as Montana continues to push for its first regular-season title since 2012.

Sacramento State, picked to finish second in the preseason poll, falls to 13-8 and 4-3 in league action with one match left to play this season at Montana State on Thursday.

Gallery: (4-12-2022) MTEN:: vs SAC 4.12.22

The Grizzlies started the match from behind, falling in the doubles round for a second-straight week to give Sac State an early 1-0 advantage.

But Montana quickly bounced back in singles with a pair of straight-set wins from Oisin Shaffrey and Lawrence Sciglitano on courts two and three to pull the momentum back for Montana.

The Hornets then tied the match 2-2 with a win on court four, leaving Pudney to provide the final momentum swing for the Griz. And boy did he deliver.

"Oisin and Lawrence kind of set the tone by getting so far ahead in their matches right away that it looked like we would be in good shape. I think that gave Ed some confidence in his match, and the other guys too, knowing the pressure wouldn't be on them," said Brown.

"We have to make some adjustments in doubles, but other than that, I'm really, really happy to get a win against a very good Sac State team."

In doubles, Milo Benn and Gustav Theilgaard improved to 9-2 and 4-1 in league play as a pair on court three with a 6-3 win over Sac's Aksenoks/Wong duo.

The win leveled the score 1-1 in the opening round after the Hornet's Keki/Voros pair beat Pudney and Shaffrey 6-3 on court one to remain undefeated in Big Sky play.

In the rubber match on court two, Montana's Stoeger/Sciglitano pair suffered a slow start to fall behind early, and the comeback attempt fell short, losing to Sac State's Maior/Rand pair 6-3, giving the Hornets a 1-0 team advantage.

Shaffrey got the Griz back in short order when singles started, rolling over Mate Voros, the Jan. 25 Big Sky Player of the Week, in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. The win keeps the senior from Ireland undefeated in conference play for the last three seasons, improving his career league record to 19-3.

Sciglitano then put the Grizzlies ahead for the first time in the match soon after with an equally clean straight-set win over Patrick Wong on court three, 6-1, 6-3, giving UM the 2-1 lead.

Theilgaard suffered just his second loss of the season soon after, falling to Ori Maior 6-2, 6-4, as the big Grizzly freshman struggled with injury.

With the match now tied 2-2, the Grizzlies needed some heroics, and Pudney was just the man for the job.

In a match that wouldn't have looked out of place in Arthur Ashe Stadium and contained all the skill, excitement, and drama of a US Open showdown, Pudney handed the defending Big Sky player of the Week his first conference loss and just his fifth singles loss overall of the season.

Faced with returning one of the biggest serves in the league, the Englishman did what he's done best all season, use brains over brawn to manage Keki's pace.

"I just thought I had to make it as tough for him as I could, stay out there every point, don't give him anything easy, and compete as hard as I could," said Pudney.

"I tried to anticipate and see what serves he liked to hit and when he would hit them. There were a few games where I had some good reads on it and returned pretty well, but I had no idea a lot of the time. It's one of the hardest serves I've ever faced, and I think it got better as we went on. So I just tried to hit the ball back and make him play an extra shot, but it was tough."

In as back-and-forth a match as possible, Pudney started in the lead, taking a 6-4 win in the first set, but then falling in the second set 4-6 as momentum swung between both squads.

Knotted 3-3 in the third, Pudney broke Keki's monster serve to take a 4-3 advantage, only to have his serve broken right back to tie the set 4-4.

Holding serve, Keki then went up 5-4 with a win in the next game and looked to be on his way, building a 40-0 lead and needing just one more point to win the match.

That's when Pudney took control with the slimmest of margins between a win and a loss.

The Grizzly senior battled back to fend off four-straight match points and win the game to make it 5-5 in the third set, eventually forcing a tiebreaker after each player once again held serve.

Pudney looked to have momentum in the breaker as well, breaking another of Keki's serves to go up 5-2 in the deciding game, but the Hornet sophomore punched back, winning two-straight points to make it 5-4.

After a long volley by Keki and a volley into the net from Pudney, the breaker score remained on a knife-edge at 6-5. Keki then tied it 6-6 and once again used his monster serve to go up 7-6.

Pudney then used his serve to go ahead 8-7 in the breaker, but the match was far from over with Keki getting ready to serve.

That's when the visitor fired two consecutive serves wide for a double-fault, giving Pudney the epic 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7) win, battling off a total of six match points in the process, to extend Montana's team lead to 3-2.

Meanwhile, Moritz Stoeger clinched the win for the Griz on court five with a straight-set win of his own over Hayden rand (6-4, 6-1), ensuring the Montana victory.

UM senior Pontus Hallgren capped the match with another UM win, beating Rudolf Aksenoks in a second set tiebreaker 6-2, 7-6 (1), to make the final score 5-2 in UM's favor.

Montana has a short turnaround time before its next match as the Grizzlies head west for the weekend. The Griz will get one final nonconference tune-up against Lewis-Clark State on Friday before another key conference matchup against the always-competitive Idaho Vandals – who just knocked off MSU – on Saturday. Both matches will be played on the indoor courts at Lewis-Clark State.

The Griz then cap the regular season with the annual Brawl of the Wild match against the Bobcats on April 23 in Bozeman in a battle of the two teams who currently sit atop the Big Sky standings.

"After a tough NAU loss, a win like this definitely gives us confidence going into our last two matches," said Pudney.

"We've had a great season, but we've got the most important matches ahead."