Vandals defend home court, beat Griz 5-2

Saturday, April 16

Lewiston, Idaho

4 PM (MT)

Montana

Idaho

Photo by: Derek Johnson

4/16/2022 10:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Idaho Vandals captured the momentum from a narrow win in the doubles round and rode it to a 5-2 win over the Montana men's tennis team on the road in Lewiston, Idaho, on Saturday evening.

The loss drops the Grizzlies to 14-3 and into a three-way tie for second in the Big Sky Conference standings at 5-2 in league play with one match each left to play.

The Griz lost the doubles point by the slimmest of margins in a 7-5 decision in the final match while forcing three, three-set matches in singles, with four total sets going to tiebreakers.

"Once we lost the doubles point, which was super close, Idaho just got rolling and played unbelievably well. The best team won today for sure," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I need to do a better job as a coach preparing us to win some doubles points. But the most important part of the season is still ahead of us, so we need to rebound and put it all together."

In the doubles round against the Vandals, Milo Benn and Gustav Theilgaard picked up a win on court two to take a brief lead. Soon after, Idaho tied the round with a win on court three.

In the rubber match on court one, UM seniors Ed Pudney and Oisin Shaffrey dropped a narrow 5-7 decision to Francisco Bascon and Bruno Casino to give the Vandals the 1-0 team lead and the momentum heading into singles.

Montana made a comeback in the early stages of the singles round, with junior Lawrence Sciglitano taking a 6-3, 6-3 win on court three over Casino to tie the team score 1-1.

After falling in a tiebreaker in the first set, Shafffrey lost in the second as well for UM's first singles loss of the day (6-7 (5), 4-6) on court two, followed by Theilgaard losing in three sets on court four to extend Idaho's lead 3-1.

The Vandals clinched the match with a win on court one, with Pudney taking the first set but dropping the second and third (6-3, 3-6, 3-6) to Bascon to make the team score 4-1 in Idaho's favor.

Moritz Stoeger picked up Montana's second win on court five that went to a tiebreaker in all three sets, with the sophomore coming back to win in a superbreaker 6-7 (3), 7-6 (1), 1-0 (4).

Montana now turns its full attention to the Montana State Bobcats or the regular-season finale and Brawl of the Wild match. At 6-1 in conference play, MSU sits alone in first place on the conference table. A win for the Griz can still bring a potential share of the regular-season title.

The Griz and Cats square off Saturday, April 23, at the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center in Bozeman at 4 p.m.