Second season for Griz tennis begins at Big Sky tourney

#4 Montana vs #5 Idaho State
Big Sky Quarterfinal
Thursday, April 28, 9 a.m. (MT)
Tournament Scoreboard
Tournament Program

Big Sky Semifinal
Match 3: No. 1 Idaho vs. lowest remaining seed
Match 4: No. 2 Montana State vs. highest remaining seed
Friday, April 29, 9 a.m. (MT)
Tournament Scoreboard
Tournament Program

Big Sky Championship
Saturday, April 30, 9 a.m. (MT)
Tournament Scoreboard
Tournament Program

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Sure, a record-setting regular season is nice, but with two-straight losses to close the schedule, it feels unfinished.

The good news is Montana gets the chance to finish what they started this week with the second season for the Grizzly men's tennis team (14-4, 5-3 BSC) starting Thursday in Phoenix at the Big Sky Championship tourney.

With parity in the league at an all-time high, the goal for the Griz is simple: survive and advance, and keep doing it until they bring a championship back to Missoula and move on to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.

"I've had a lot of boosters and ex-players remind me that you would have signed up for 14 and four any day. It's legitimately the best regular-season in program history outside of winning the title," said head coach Jason Brown.

"Yeah, we'd rather have the losses early, but sometimes you don't get to pick that. I think they're good fuel for us to be loose and ready to roll in Phoenix, and it doesn't change the goal we've had the entire season."

The No. 4 Griz open the tournament against a familiar foe in No. 5 Idaho State, who the Griz beat 6-1 in Missoula earlier this year. These Bengals can bite, however. A year ago in Phoenix, ISU played for a championship after beating Montana 2-5 in Pocatello.

All matches from the Phoenix Tennis Center get underway bright and early at 9 a.m. (MT), with links to updated scoring available at GoGriz.com.

// THE BRACKET // Montana enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed, set to take on No. 5 Idaho State in the quarterfinal round. Montana last faced the Bengals earlier this month on April 2 in Missoula, with the Griz cruising to a 6-1 win at the Peak Racquet Club.

Despite only one Grizzly – Milo Benn on court six – suffering a loss in that match, much has changed since then. First off, the two teams have moved down to sea level and moved outside to the Phoenix Tennis Center. Secondly, the Griz have gone 1-3 against Big Sky opponents to close out the regular season.

Montana has history on its side in Phoenix, however. While Idaho State advanced to the championship round of the tourney in 2021, the Griz beat the Bengals 4-0 in the quarterfinal round before beating No. 1 Northern Arizona 4-3 and advancing to the championship match.

Should Montana beat Idaho State, UM will move to the semifinal where No. 1 Idaho will play the lowest remaining seed and No. 2 Montana State will play the highest. In the other quarterfinal, No.3 Northern Arizona faces No. 6 Sacramento State. If chalk holds, the Griz will face the Vandals in round two, with the potential for a Griz/Cat rematch in the championship.

"I honestly believe if we find three doubles points, we're coming back with the trophy," said Brown.

"That being said, doubles went from an absolute strength to a little bit of our thorn in our side. So, my job is to get that straightened out and fixed. But I think the guys are ready and confident. I don't think there's a single guy here that isn't convinced we're not the best team in the Big Sky."

// GRIZ TRACKS //

• Thursday's match kicks off Montana's 30^th all-time appearance at the Big Sky tournament. The Griz have only missed one tournament in the events' history, and that came in 2021 in a Covid-abbreviated where only the top two teams from a north and south division advanced. Montana missed out due to a Big Sky Conference tiebreaker decision, despite finishing second in the north division.

• Sophomore Moritz Stoeger capped his regular season on an eight-match winning streak and stayed undefeated in Big Sky play at 7-0. He's also tied for the second-best overall singles record on the team this spring at 11-3.

• Pontus Hallgren suffered his first loss of the season in singles at MSU. The senior enters the Big Sky tourney at 5-1 overall this season and 2-1 in league play. He's also 4-2 this spring on the doubles court.

• Freshman Gustav Theilgaard will be looking to get back to his winning ways in Phoenix. After getting off to 10-straight wins to start the year, he closed out the regular season at 11-4 and 4-4 in league play. He's also played strong in doubles, going 13-3 this season and 6-2 in his first year of Big Sky play.

• Senior Oisin Shaffrey made Montana history this week as the first tennis player to win the prestigious Grizzly Cup, presented annually to the top overall male and female student-athletes in Grizzly Athletics.

Shaffrey finished his regular-season career with a 19-5 (.791) record in Big Sky Conference singles play and won 15-straight league matches between April 14 of 2019, and April 12 of this year. He never missed a Big Sky match in his career, earning a place in the lineup in 24-straight duals.

Not only did he win the majority of his dual matches, he dominated. Of his 19 Big Sky Conference wins, he won 15 in straight sets. He also took 31 of his 42 dual wins in straight sets.

After this season he's set to graduate with a 3.83 GPA in Management Information Systems. An academic standout, he's a three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete and three-time Academic All-Big Sky selection and helped lead the Griz to four-straight Dusten Hollist Awards for the top team GPA in Grizzly Athletics.

"A championship would just be the cherry on top. It's everything we put in the last four years from when we were freshmen. Everything goes towards winning a conference tournament championship and it'd be a dream come true for all of us," said Shaffrey.

• Senior Ed Pudney holds Montana's best record at 12-3 after winning on court one at MSU, and is 23-4 including fall tournament matches.

// SCOUTING THE BENGALS //

• Idaho State finished the season with a mixed bag of results at 12-11 overall and 4-4 in league play.

• The Bengals picked up an impressive 4-3 road win at six-seed Sacramento State in late March, and narrowly lost to Northern Arizona 3-4 on the road and at altitude in Flagstaff to close the regular season.

• Aleksandar Petrovic and Patrik Trhac enter the tournament as the No. 74-ranked doubles pair in the nation, falling from No. 69 last week. The Bengal duo has spent most of the year in the rankings and is slotted ahead of Montana State's Nathan/Panik pair this week, who head to Phoenix at No. 79.

• Montana is 2-2 against Idaho State at the Big Sky tournament dating back to 1993. The Griz last played the Bengals at the tourney in 2017 when the No. 4 Griz beat the No. 5 Bengals 4-0 in the quarterfinal round. This marks the third time Montana and Idaho State have met in the quarterfinal as the No. 4 and 5 seeds, respectively. The first was in 1996, and the second was 2017.

Second season for Griz tennis begins at Big Sky tourney

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Players Mentioned

Milo Benn

Pontus Hallgren

Ed Pudney

Oisin Shaffrey

Moritz Stoeger

Gustav Theilgaard

University of Montana Athletics