Wiger-Nordas makes it back-to-back titles in win at Gonzaga

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Wiger-Nordas makes it back-to-back titles in win at Gonzaga

11/11/2024 4:22:00 PM | Men's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

Montana men's tennis junior Baltazar Wiger-Nordas ground-out four wins to earn his second-straight singles title over the weekend, leading the Grizzlies to a championship in their final fall tournament of the season at the Gonzaga Invitational in Spokane.

The Norwegian defeated Boise State's Idriss Haddouch in a third set tiebreaker to win the main blue draw at GU's Stevens Tennis Center, securing his second tourney title in the last three weeks. In late October he also won the singles title at the Peak Club Championship in Missoula.

The Grizzlies nearly came away with a doubles title in Spokane as well, but an injury hampered the efforts of freshmen pair Johnny Wilkinson and Duncan McCall in the white draw final.

Montana was one of 10 teams competing at Gonzaga, with eight Grizzlies making the trip. Joining the Griz in Spokane were players from Boise State, Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana State, the University of Portland, Portland State, Seattle U, Washington, and host Gonzaga. With draws made up of regional powerhouses as well as Big Sky opponents, UM got a test against some of the best in the west and a preview of the upcoming conference duals season.

"We're happy to wrap up the fall with a strong performance," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I think it gave us a lot of information and things to work on that we need to improve. I like the progress we've made over the course of the last couple of months. It was good to go out with a championship in the final match of the fall. Nothing could be sweeter than that."

To earn his second title of the fall, Wiger-Nordas had to battle for every point. He opened the tournament with a straight-set win over Luca Prino of Portland State (7-5, 6-3) but had to gut-out the rest of his wins in three sets.

In the quarterfinal round he beat Idaho No. 1 Francisco Gay, bouncing back from a first set loss to beat the Vandal senior convincingly 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. He followed that up with a semifinal win over Boise State's Taiyo Kurata (6-4, 1-6, 7-5) to advance to the final, where he'd face another Bronco in Haddouch.

He started the title match strong, losing just a single game in the first set. Haddouch roared back to win the second, however, sending the match to a deciding third set. That set would go the distance, with the Grizzly eventually pulling away in the tiebreaker to take a thrilling win (6-1, 3-6, 7-6 2) and return to Missoula with some hardware.

Wiger-Nordas have been one of Montana's top overall performers during the fall season. In addition to winning two-straight singles titles, he advanced to the doubles round of 16 at the ITA Regional Tourney in Las Vegas and the doubles semifinal of the Bengal Invite in Pocatello with Fernando Perez. He also won a consolation doubles title at the Bedford Cup at Air Force with Eivind Tandberg.

"Baltazar had a series of tough matches and played really well this weekend. He was the two seed in the A draw and ended up playing three, three-setters. He beat Idaho's number one and then two Boise State guys all in three sets, and his last match was 7-6 in the third, so it couldn't have been any closer," said Brown.

"He's really got himself dialed-in over the last month and it's shown in winning the Peak tournament and following that up with a pretty tough title win at Gonzaga. So, I'm super proud of him for really ramping up his dedication to the program and his teammates."

Wilkinson and McCall put in another standout performance for the Griz, beating Big Sky opponents from Portland State and Eastern Washington to advance to the white draw doubles final. The freshmen duo took down the Vikings' Theriault/Cravanzola pair in short order (6-2) and followed that up with a 6-3 win over EWU's Bhatti/Dalos pair to move on to the final.

It was there, however, that an injury caught up with Wilkinson, forcing the first year Grizzly to limit his serve. It didn't slow UM down though, with the pair hanging tough with the University of Portland's Cade Fernando and Tannor Binder in an 8-5 loss.

"It was a little bit of a tragic final in doubles," added Brown.

"Johnny had to retire from singles with an arm injury but played in doubles and just decided to serve underhanded. They lost to a good Portland team but gave them a real battle. You basically don't stand a chance in doubles without a serve, but they competed really hard. It was fun to watch, and I was proud of them."

McCall has been another standout for the Griz this fall, winning a singles draw at Air Force's Bedford Cup in September – his first-ever collegiate tennis tourney. He and Wilkinson also partnered to go 3-1 and advance to the consolation final that week at Air Force.

Montana now turns its attention to the spring championship duals season, which gets underway on January 25 when North Dakota makes the trip to Missoula to face UM at the Peak Racquet Club.