Griz head to Boise for three duals

On the heels of three-straight victories, the Montana men's tennis team hits the road this week looking to add three more wins to their record in the final nonconference tune-up before Big Sky play begins in earnest.

The Griz (7-5, 1-1 BSC) head to Boise for a tripleheader to start spring break, facing Boise State for the first time since upsetting the Broncos a year ago, and picking up a pair of neutral site duals while in the Gem State. Weather permitting, all weekend matches will be played outdoors at Boise State's immaculate Appleton Tennis Center.

Montana opens the three-match swing on at noon on Saturday against the San Francisco Dons (1-8, 0-1 WCC) of the powerful West Coast Conference. On Sunday, UM faces the host Broncos (11-4, 0-0 MWC) at 10 a.m., with live scoring available and a live video stream available to watch if the match is played outdoors. The Griz then cap the trip with a dual against D-III George Fox (5-5, 2-0 NWC) at 10 a.m. on Monday.

"The guys and I are as excited for this trip as any on the season. It comes without the pressure of conference play, but it will provide us some really good competition," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I think we match up well and will compete well against all three teams, and it's a great setup for our final six conference matches of the season."

Following the trip, Montana dives head-first into the deep end of the Big Sky slate, with six of the team's last seven duals determining if the Griz will return to the conference tourney after being picked fourth in the league's preseason poll.

For Montana, in order to meet their own high expectation of competing for a league title, this week's matches will go a long way toward setting the team up for success.

"We had a good conversation about the idea that, whether we were 12-and-0 or 0-and-12 heading into this trip, our whole season will be defined by the next six weeks – the end of March and early April," said Brown.

"I think we're going use this week to position ourselves to get after it."

GRIZ TRACKS

• Montana is riding a three-match win streak into the trip to Boise, having swept Eastern Washington 7-0 in conference play and beat Lewis-Clark State 7-0 and 5-2 in a home doubleheader that allowed UM to get matches for the entire lineup.

• Freshman Baltazar Wiger-Nordas won 24 of his 26 games of tennis in the weekend sweep of Lewis-Clark State with a pair of 6-1, 6-0 victories to earn UM's Big Sky Player of the Week nomination.

In match one of the doubleheader, the Norwegian beat Itaru Kikuchi 6-1, 6-0, on court three, and in the second singles match of the day beat Austin Swing 6-0, 6-1 on court four to go undefeated on the weekend.

• Guillermo Martin has the team's best winning percentage at 6-1 in singles this season and has an anchor for the Griz at the bottom of the lineup with a 5-1 record on courts four, five, and six.

The Spaniard earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors on week one of the season and is riding a four-match win streak into Boise.

• Montana's depth has been one of the team's strengths this season, as the Griz field a young team following the departure of five seniors from last year's squad.

That depth has translated to success in the middle and bottom of the lineup, with UM sitting 10-2 on courts three and six. Junior Moritz Stoeger has been steady on court three at 4-1, while freshman George Russell has also gone undefeated on court six at 3-0.

In doubles, the Griz are also solid in the middle of the lineup at 7-2 on court two, with the freshman/sophomore duo of Tom Bittner and Fernando Perez sitting at 5-1 as a pair this season and 3-0 on court two.

• For the first time in recent history, a sophomore has topped the Grizzly singles lineup, with Gustav Theilgaard leading the charge on court one all season, entering the weekend at 5-3 with a win over Air Force No. 1 Nick Vroman under his belt.

SCOUTING THE FIELD

• San Francisco's 1-8 record is a bit of a misnomer, with the Bay Area squad coming to Boise this week with some big individual wins against always-strong California-based competition. The Don's lone win of the year was 4-1 at UC San Diego. USF got single wins over opponents like Cal and San Diego State, but faces the Griz having already lost 2-4 to Idaho State and 0-4 to Boise State.

• Boise State is on a tear at 11-4 this season, coming off a 4-3 win over No. 61 Drake and a 4-1 win over No. 69 Liberty at the Diablos Tennis Tourney at Arizona State last week in Tempe. The Broncos, who Montana defeated 4-3 a year ago in Boise, are undefeated at home this season at 6-0, coming off a 4-2 win over Idaho State and a 4-0 sweep of San Francisco.

• Oregon-based George Fox lists a 5-2 win over Lewis-Clark State on their schedule this weekend, and picked up an individual win over Portland State in a 1-6 team loss amongst UM common opponents.

UP NEXT: The Griz return to the road on the back end of spring break for a pair of conference matches, heading south again on I-15 to face Weber State on March 24 and Idaho State on March 26. Both the Wildcats and Bengals were picked below the Griz in the preseason poll at fifth and sixth, respectively, giving UM an early opportunity to take a big step toward returning to the conference championship with two road wins.

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Players Mentioned

Tom Bittner

Guillermo Martin

Fernando Perez

George Russell

Moritz Stoeger

Gustav Theilgaard

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

University of Montana Athletics