Griz return to Air Force for ITA Mountain Regional

After a successful opening week, the Montana men's tennis team returns to Colorado's front range this week to compete in the premiere event of the fall tournament season, the ITA Mountain Regional at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The Griz are one of 14 teams competing in Colorado Springs Sept. 28 – Oct. 2, with Boise State, BYU, Denver, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana State, New Mexico State, Northern Arizona, UNLV, Utah, Utah State, Weber State, and the host Falcons.

Montana is only two days removed from a strong outing in its opening fall tournament – the Bedford Cup, also at Air Force – where the Griz claimed two titles and made two semifinal appearances. UM junior Guillermo Martin won the Eagle singles draw, while Tom Bittner and Chris Zhang paired up to win the West doubles draw.

The competition steps up a notch for the Griz this week, with Zhang facing an opening round match against the tournament's No. 1 overall seed and top-20 ranked Geronimo Buslemian from Utah, as well as day one matchups for other Grizzlies against the likes of Utah State, Boise State, and UNLV.

"We have some really tough draws, but if we continue to grow and compete the way we did last week, I'll be satisfied with any results that come our way," said head coach Jason Brown.

"Hopefully we can pull off a couple of upsets and make sure nobody wants to play Montana in the spring."

The format of the tournament includes a 64-man main singles ITA draw and a 32-man Flight B Falcon draw. Doubles will feature a 32-team main singles ITA draw and a 16-team Flight B-Falcon draw. The top two out of each main draw in singles and doubles will advance to the ITA Fall Championships in San Diego, Calif.

Links to tournament draws and results can be found at GoGriz.com.

Competition schedule

Thursday, Sept. 28
ITA Regionals
9 am - Doubles round of 32
10:30 am - Round of 16 doubles, round of 16 consolation doubles
1 pm - Round of 64 singles
Falcon Draw
9 am - Round of 16 doubles
10:30 am - Round of 32 singles

Friday, Sept. 29
ITA Regionals
9 am - Quarterfinals doubles, quarterfinals consolation doubles
10 am - Round of 32 singles
11:30 pm - Round of 32 consolation singles
2 pm - Round of 16 singles
Falcon Draw
9 am - Quarterfinals doubles, quarterfinals consolation doubles
10 am - Round of 16 singles, round of 16 consolation singles
2 pm - Quarterfinals singles, quarterfinals consolation singles

Saturday, Sept. 30
ITA Regionals
9 am - Semifinals Doubles, semifinals consolation doubles
10:30 am - Quarterfinals singles
12 pm - Round of 16 consolation singles
3 pm - Quarterfinals consolation singles
Falcon Draw
9 am - Semifinals doubles, semifinals consolation doubles
10 am - Semifinals singles, semifinals consolation singles
2 pm - Finals doubles, finals consolation doubles

Sunday, Oct. 1
ITA Regionals
9 am - Finals doubles, finals consolation doubles, semifinals consolation singles
11 am - Semifinals singles
12 pm - Finals consolation singles (following Falcon singles final)
Falcon Draw
10 - Finals, singles, finals consolation singles

Monday, Oct. 2
ITA Regionals
10 am - Finals singles

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tom Bittner

Guillermo Martin

Chris Zhang

University of Montana Athletics