Griz double-up on wins over LC State

Sunday, March 12

Missoula, Mont.

9:30 AM

Montana

Lewis-Clark State

3/12/2023 7:16:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team earned a doubleheader sweep over a game Lewis-Clark State squad on Sunday at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula.

With matches for everyone up and down the Grizzly roster and a shuffled deck in the lineups, Montana swept the NAIA Warriors 7-0 in the first dual before winning again 5-2 in the afternoon matinee.

The pair of wins improves the Grizzlies to 7-5 on the season, but stacking wins wasn't really the point for the Grizzlies. With the heart of the conference season around the corner, Sunday's doubled-up duals were more about fine-tuning the details.

"It was really great to split the lineups and get everybody matches. We got to see some new doubles pairs, and even just getting to see everybody in action is great as we look to build depth," said UM head coach Jason Brown.

"I thought the energy was really good. LC State is much, much improved, and I'm really proud of our guys coming out and being super professional, dealing with the adversity that came their way, and taking care of business."

Montana 7, LC State 0

In the first match of the day, the Grizzlies were made to work for the opening doubles point after breezing to a 6-1 win on court three, finally pulling away for 6-3 wins on courts one and two to win the round.

In the singles round, the Griz had little trouble at the top of the lineup with four straight-set wins. The Warriors then put some pressure on the bottom of UM's lineup with a pair of tiebreakers, but the Griz ultimately pulled through for the 7-0 sweep.

Sam Baldwin and Jake Watkins made their first appearance as a doubles pair this season and had no trouble with the LCSC's Kikuchi/Swing pair in the 6-1 victory on court three.

Meanwhile, the All-Big Sky doubles pair of Moritz Stoeger and Guillermo Martin improved to 5-3 together on the year, clinching the doubles point for UM with a 6-3 win over the Warrior's Felker/Matyrnyi pair.

Montana's top doubles pair of Gustav Theilgaard and George Russel overcame an early challenge from Declan Townsend and Cade Edwards on court one to pull away for a 6-3 win to cap the doubles round. The win improved them to 6-3 as a pair this season.

In singles, Baltazar Wiger-Nordas blew past Itaru Kikuchi on court three for the first of his two 6-1, 6-0 wins on the day, with the freshman only giving up a combined two games in two matches.

Guillermo Martin then improved to 6-1 on the year to maintain Montana's best singles winning percentage, with a 6-3, 6-2 straight-sets win over Cade Edwards.

UM's big-serving sophomore No. 1 Gustav Theilgaard then clinched the team win for the Griz on court one, battling for a 6-3, 6-4 win over Daniel Townsend to put Montana up 4-0.

Sam Baldwin soon followed up with the first of his two wins on the day, rebounding from a long 7-5 win in the first set to cruise in the second 6-2. George Russell was the opposite on court five, rolling 6-1 in the first set before pulling out a come-from-behind win in a second set tiebreaker 7-6 (7).

Jake Watkins finished the sweep for the Griz in bounce-back fashion, losing the first set 2-6, but winning the second 6-2 and the superbreaker 1-0 (6).

Montana 5, LC State 2

Montana kept the momentum with a shuffled lineup in the second match of the day, rolling to a quick clinch before finishing with the 5-2 win over the Warriors.

In doubles, Juniors Moritz Stoeger and Josh Watkins ran away with a 6-2 win on court three before Tom Bittner and Fernando Perez clinched on court one with a 6-2 win, improving them to 5-1 as a doubles pair.

In singles, Wiger-Nordas blew past Austin Swing 6-0, 6-1 to go undefeated on the day and put UM up 2-0 in the team score. Baldwin also had little trouble with Cade Edwards, easing to a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Fernando Perez played the clincher for the Griz in his first match of the season on court two, beating Declan Townsend 6-2, 6-4 to put UM up 4-0.

Montana's highlight win of the day would come after the match was already clinched, however. Playing up on court one, freshman Tom Bittner split his first two sets against Dan Felker, dropping the first 7-5 before rebounding to win the second 6-3.

However, in the superbreaker, it appeared Bittner had run out of gas as Felker placed shot after shot to build a 9-4 lead, needing just one more point to pull off the upset.

But the German Grizzly wasn't going down that easy,

In an epic comeback, Bittner rallied, fighting off five match points and winning seven-straight points to win the breaker and, in turn, the match 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (9).

"A comeback like that can do nothing but build confidence. That's what we're looking to do in these matches is get good reps under tension. We're trying to season up these freshmen and sophomores, and this is a great way to do it," said Brown.

UP NEXT: Montana heads for Idaho to play three matches in Boise to start spring break. The Griz open with a neutral site dual against San Francisco on March 18, then play the host Boise State Broncos on March 19, then finish the trip with another neutral dual against George Fox the following day.

UM then finishes spring break with two conference matches, playing at Weber State on March 24 and Idaho State on March 26.