Vandals charge back, beat Griz 5-2

Friday, April 7

Missoula, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

Idaho

4/7/2023 9:01:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to the defending Big Sky champion Idaho Vandals at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula on Friday.

For the second-straight match, the Griz opened up with a win in the doubles round only to fall short in singles, with the Vandals winning five of the six singles matches. Idaho didn't go without a fight, however, with three matches going to three sets and five sets going to a tiebreaker.

Montana falls to 9-9 on the season and 1-4 in conference play, while Idaho improves to 10-7 and 3-1 in league play. The loss marks the first time since 2017 UM has lost more than one match at home in a single season.

Like they did at Idaho State two weeks ago, the Griz started strong in doubles. Moritz Stoeger and George Russell set the tone on court two, breaking a Vandal serve early to take a 4-1 lead before finishing with a 6-2 win.

Gustav Theilgaard and Tom Bittner also broke an Idaho serve to come from behind and take a 4-3, eventually clinching the doubles point with a 6-4 win on court three.

The energy of doubles quickly subsided in singles, however, with the Vandals taking four-straight wins at the top of the lineup to seal the win.

Theilgaard went up 2-0 early on against former Big Sky MVP Fancisco Bascon but had his serve broken to go down 2-3 and never recovered, falling 4-6, 4-6 on court one.

On court four, Bittner stormed out to a 5-0 lead but faltered from there, falling to Matteo Masala 7-6 (8), 6-2, 6-2.

Russel picked up Montana's only singles win on court five after Idaho had already clinched the team win, beating Mario Duron 7-6 (1), 6-3, cutting Idaho's lead to 4-2 before the Vandals closed out the win on court six to make it a 5-2 score line.

The Griz have a short turnaround time before one of their most important matches of the year, hosting Portland State on Saturday at noon with a chance at making the postseason with a win.