Griz netters finish fall strong at Bulldog Classic.

Friday, November 3

Spokane, Wash.

All Day

Montana

Bulldog Classic

Griz netters finish fall strong at Bulldog Classic.

11/5/2023 5:54:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team capped its fall tournament season with a slew of deep runs at Gonzaga's Bulldog Classic in Spokane over the weekend.

Guillermo Martin continued his strong fall, advancing to the white draw quarterfinal just weeks after winning a singles draw at Air Force's Bedford Cup tourney.

Martin was the only Grizzly to earn a win on the opening day, however, leaving the Grizzlies with work to do in the final two days, but they responded well.

After first-round losses, Baltazar Wiger-Nordas won three times to win the white consolation draw while Chris Zhang won twice to advance to the west consolation draw final.

After having two events canceled in the month of October, the Griz returned to Missoula feeling good about their performance, despite the rust.

"This was a great chance to see some opponents we'll face in the spring and get a good feel for the dual season. Gonzaga always runs a great tournament as well," said head coach Jason Brown.

"We looked like a team that hadn't played a college tournament in about a month. Friday was a little rough, but we picked It up as the weekend went on and figured out some stuff we need to work on in the spring. I would say it was a successful campaign. All-in-all I think we represented the Grizzlies well."

Martin advanced in the main white draw with a day one win, beating Eastern Washington's Tyler Dalos (6-0, 7-5) to advance to the quarterfinal. He then advanced to the semifinal and got another Big Sky win over Idaho's Sebastian Medica (7-6(3), 6-4) to earn a trip to the semifinal. His title run ended in the round of four, however, falling in three sets to Gonzaga's Leon Roider in a nailbiter (4-6, 6-2, 4-6).

Wiger-Nordas dropped a tight three-setter on day one against Maxim Groysman from the University of Portland (4-6, 6-4, 2-6), but turned it around to capture three wins in the main bracket consolation draw to win a title for the Griz.

He started Saturday with a straight set win over Veselin Kiselkov of Seattle U (6-4, 7-5), then got a Big Sky win over Mario Duron of Idaho (6-4, 6-1) and took the bracket title with a rivalry win over Dario Ciobotaru of Montana State (2-6, 6-1, 1-0(9)).

Chris Zhang also bounced back from a day one loss to take two victories en route to a final appearance in the west consolation draw, beating players from Seattle U and EWU before falling 5-7, 6-1, to Portland's Fabian Gusic in the title match.

Montana will now turn its attention to the spring dual season, opening the year in late January with a doubleheader against Whitworth in Missoula.