Griz set to face Blues and Bulldogs on weekend road trip

After an unexpected bye due to flight issues, the Montana men's tennis team returns to the road this week, this time driving west for two nonconference matches in Washington.

The Griz (3-3) open the weekend in Walla-Walla where they will face Whitman (0-3) on Friday at 3 p.m. MT. Montana then travels to Spokane to take on the white-hot Gonzaga Bulldogs (4-2) on Sunday at Noon MT at the Stevens Tennis Center.

Montana was slated to play at UNLV last weekend with a neutral site dual against UC San Diego thrown in the mix. But canceled flights and issues rescheduling the resulting missed matches caused the trip to be scrapped.

Now with an extra week of preparation under their belts and another week to heal up some niggling injuries, Montana gets two more opportunities to put the extra practice into action with conference play just around the corner.

"I'm excited about this trip. It will be really good for us to just get road matches in at this point. After a week off, this will be a good opportunity to get match tough again," said head coach Jason Brown.

COVERAGE: Whitman and Gonzaga will both provide a live stream of this weekend's action in Walla-Walla and Spokane. Gonzaga will also provide live scoring. Links to both can be found on the schedule page at GoGriz.com/MTEN.

GRIZ TRACKS: A month into the season, and two Grizzlies have already earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors. Sophomore Guillermo Martin earned it after beating his opponent from North Dakota in straight sets on week one.

Baldwin was UM's other recipient after a huge week against Whitworth and Eastern Washington, going 4-0 on the trip and landing on ESPN's SportsCenter Top-10 with a jaw dropping between-the-legs winner.

• Montana returns to full health this week after two of the top players in the lineup were injured at Air Force and missed the ACU match. Gustav Theilgaard, who played No. 1 against the Falcons, is back in the Vegas lineup. As is junior Moritz Stoeger, the team's elder statesman.

• Baldwin leads the team in singles at 4-2 on the year to date. Freshman George Russell has also impressed at 3-1, while fellow freshman Baltazar Wiger-Nordas remains undefeated at 3-0 in singles.

• Russell and Theilgaard have been UM's top doubles pairing as well at 3-1 on court one so far this season, with wins over North Dakota, Whitworth, EWU, and Air Force.

SCOUTING WHITMAN: The Blues enter the match winless on the season having faced three D-I regional foes to date. Whitman is 0-3 with three 7-0 losses to Idaho State, Boise State, and Eastern Washington. Like Montana, the Blues will be eager for action, with all three of those matches happening on the final week of January.

SCOUTING GONZAGA: The Zags enter the weekend at 4-2 on the year and undefeated at the Stevens Center at 2-0 in home matches. They're coming off a 6-1 win over defending Big Sky Champions Idaho, but it's the previous match that's really turning heads.

Gonzaga picked up a massive upset win at the ITA Kickoff event on Jan. 29 when they took down Utah 4-1 in Fort Worth, Texas.

"It's probably up there with their biggest win in program history," said Brown.

"They got a veteran team. So, I expect them to be, in many ways, the toughest team we play this season. They're a really talented, deep group, and their coaching staff does an amazing job with them."

Montana has tasted recent success over Gonzaga, however. The Griz last beat GU 4-3 back in 2021 when the Zags were ranked No. 62 in the nation. The two teams met again in 2022, with the Bulldogs, then ranked No. 52, beat UM 4-0 at the Stevens Center.

UP NEXT: Montana travels to California for the start of Big Sky Conference play. The Griz will get first get a nonconference tune-up at UC Davis on Feb. 24 before their first league match at Sac State on Feb. 25. The Hornets were picked tied for second in the league's preseason poll and have impressed in recent weeks with wins over Pacific and Saint Mary's.

Griz set to face Blues and Bulldogs on weekend road trip

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Players Mentioned

Guillermo Martin

George Russell

Moritz Stoeger

Gustav Theilgaard

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

University of Montana Athletics