Griz bolster depth with five additions in class of 2022

Following a historic season led by four outgoing seniors, Montana head men's tennis coach Jason Brown has reloaded his roster for the 2022-23 season with the addition of four incoming freshmen and one D-I transfer.

Joining the Griz this fall are Fernando Perez-Rodenas Herrera, a rising sophomore from North Alabama, and true freshmen Tom Bittner of Germany, George Russell of England, Jake Watkins of Whitefish, and Baltazar Wiger-Nordås of Norway.

The five signees face the tall task of replacing one of the best senior classes in program history, with four Grizzly greats lost to graduation, including Milo Benn, Pontus Hallgren, Oisin Shaffrey, and Big Sky MVP Ed Pudney.

"We're trying to recreate a little bit of what just passed through our program. This is the biggest recruiting class we've had since that 2019 class that came in, and hopefully, they develop in a similar pattern where we end up with some first-team all-conference and conference MVP type players out of this group," said Brown.

"We're recruiting guys who want to play professional tennis, and they each have that goal. So, I'm excited about this group overall. It's a big class, and we're replacing a lot of really talented players, but I'm excited to see what they can accomplish."

Fernando Perez-Rodenas Herrera, 6-1, Murcia, Spain

Montana adds a third rising sophomore to the roster in Herrera, another in the long line of Spaniards who have competed for the Griz. He joins fellow UM sophomores Sam Baldwin and Gustav Theilgaard in the class.

Herrera played at the No. 1 position in singles and doubles for most of the 2022 season as a true freshman at North Alabama. He went 5-9 in singles against mostly senior competition in his first year of college tennis. He played six matches against nationally-ranked singles opponents, including a three-set loss to No. 82 Francisco Rocha of MTSU and a tight unfinished match against Mississippi's No. 18-ranked Nikola Slavic. He also suffered two narrow doubles losses to Auburn's No. 28 Galka/Stice pair.

Herrera transfers to Montana holding an 11.87 singles UTR, currently the second-highest on the team.

Quoting Coach Brown: "I think Fernando is going to fit right into the middle of our lineup from day one. He seems like a real fighter on the court and is someone who could play number one for us. It's also nice to balance out the recruiting class a little bit with a sophomore. He's played many of the nation's top players at North Alabama. They played all the SEC schools, so he got a real dose of what the highest level of college tennis looks like. I think it will be good for him to be in a program where he's going to get pushed every day by his teammates as well."

Tom Bittner, 6-5, 165, Neusaess, Germany

Bittner hails from the Bavaria region of Germany, also home to currently Grizzly Moritz Stoeger and former UM All-Big Sky No. 1 Yannick Schmidl.

He comes to Montana as the No. 1-ranked age-grade player in Bavaria and the No. 7-ranked age-grade player in Germany. He also ranks No. 230 among all male players of any age in Germany. Bittner advanced to the round of 16 in a pair of U-16 Tennis Europe tournaments and reached a doubles semifinal in a U-16 tournament in his hometown of Augsburg.

In 2018 he took third at the German High School championships in singles, and in 2017 he placed second in the same tourney in doubles. He's a three-time winner of the Iphitos Youth Cup and a two-time winner of the Sport Scheck Munich Open. He's also won the Swabian Championship in six of the last seven years.

More recently, Bittner advanced to the quarterfinal round of the DTB Premium Tour A3 men's event in 2021 and the round of 16 at the A2 men's event in the same year. His parents are Heike and Bernd Bittner of Neusaess.

Quoting Coach Brown: "We're looking to recruit bigger, taller athletes who hopefully are going to have real impacts in the doubles lineup. Tom is just about six foot six, and I think he has pretty much limitless potential. He's won a ton of tournaments in Bavaria and has a top-200 Men's ranking in Germany. He's really a top-of-the-line player, and we are very excited about his potential. I also think that he's really excited about getting here and seeing how good he can get."

George Russell, 6-2, 170, Lymington, England

A three-time age-grade team national champion in the UK in 2016, 2017, and 2019, Russell comes to Montana with international experience after training at an academy in Spain for the last two years. He represented team Great Britain against France in an international team friendly as well as the Four Nations championship against Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

Russell was later a British U-16 doubles national champion in 2019. He was also an ITF junior doubles champion in Nairobi, Kenya, a doubles runner-up in Majadahonda, Spain, and a doubles runner-up in Liverpool, England.

His parents are Jonathan and Charlotte Russell of Lymington. A three-sport athlete in high school, he also competed in rugby and soccer. In his spare time he enjoys skiing and windsurfing.

Quoting Coach Brown: "George is another big, tall guy with a big serve. He has a ton of potential, and I think he's going to have an immediate impact on the doubles lineup. I also think he's going to fit in well with the style of tennis our team plays. The coaches at his academy all spoke very highly of him in the recruiting process, and he's exceeded my expectations so far. I think he'll be a perfect fit."

Jake Watkins, 6-0, 160, Whitefish, Mont.

Watkins returns to his home state of Montana after training at the Advantage Tennis Academy in Southern California, where he rose to become a top-15 player in the Intermountain Section of the USTA and won several USTA L5 singles and doubles events.

An outstanding student, he will be the recipient of UM's Presidential Leadership Scholarship. He reunites with his older brother Josh, a rising senior on the Grizzly tennis squad. His parents are Mark and Jennifer Watkins of Whitefish. His dad Mark also played collegiate tennis at BYU.

Quoting Coach Brown: "Obviously, with his older brother playing for us, Jake comes from a family we know and are very familiar with. He knows exactly what to expect, knows how we train and what we do, so he'll hit the ground running. It's always great to have a Montana kid, especially one who has trained at a high level in California. So, it will be a good experience for him to get here and see how good he can become."

Baltazar Wiger-Nordås, 6-3, 187, Bergen, Norway

One of the top overall players in Norway, Wiger-Nordas is a three-time national team champion with Paradis Tennis Club in 2019, 2020, and 2021. He also won a Norwegian men's doubles championship in 2021.

In junior tennis, he won a Norwegian singles and mixed doubles championship in 2021 and a doubles championship in 2020. In ITF junior competition, he won a singles and doubles title in Stavanger in 2021 as well.

Father is Pär Wiger and mother is Vibeke Nordås of Bergen. An avid chess player, he is in the top 99 percent of online players on chess.com. He is named after one of the three kings in the Bible and has five siblings.

Quoting Coach Brown: "Yet another big guy at six foot three. He's strong and a very good doubles player who won a men's doubles title in Norway and has an ITF title too. He's from a smaller town but has had exposure to a lot of really great training partners. So, I kind of think he was a bit under the radar in recruiting, and we got a steal. When he gets into a college training environment, I think he will really blossom. He's just a hard-working kid. We've had such good luck with Scandinavian kids in the past, and I think he'll fit right in at Montana. We're excited to have him."

University of Montana Athletics

Griz bolster depth with five additions in class of 2022

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