Zags ride momentum to win over Griz

Sunday, February 18

Spokane, Wash.

11 AM (MT)

Montana

Gonzaga

Tom Bittner hits the ball during a tennis match between the Montana Grizzlies and the Whitworth Pirates at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula, Montana on January 20, 2024.

Photo by: Ella Palulis/University of Montana

2/18/2024 5:01:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the season on Sunday, falling to Gonzaga 5-2 at the Stevens Tennis Center in Spokane.

The Bulldogs needed a pair of tiebreakers to sneak past the Griz in the all-important opening doubles round and rode the momentum through in singles with three consecutive straight set wins.

Sophomore Tom Bittner and senior Moritz Stoeger got wins for Montana in singles on line three and six, respectively, but the outcome had already been clinched in GU's favor by the time their matches were complete.

The Grizzlies return from their first road trip of the year at 5-1, while the Zags improve to 3-2.

"It was a good effort from the guys today in our first road match. Gonzaga proved to be too tough across the board in singles with three of their four seniors at the top of the lineup. We had our chances to win the doubles point but once that slipped away in the tiebreaker at No. 2, they seized momentum like a veteran WCC team at home should do," said head coach Jason Brown.

"Tom Bittner was outstanding, and Moritz Stoeger didn't have his best tennis but found a way to win like a senior team captain does. I think we will use this, learn from it, and respond next weekend in North Dakota."

In doubles, Spaniards Fernando Perez and Guillermo Martin lost their first match of the year together, falling to GU's Trkulja/Hollingsworth pair 3-6 to start the round.

Stoeger and his partner Baltazar Wiger-Nordas then tied the round on court three, building an early lead before eventually closing out the match in the first tiebreaker of the afternoon 7-6 (2) to knot the doubles point.

Bitter and Chris Zhang also had an early lead on court two, but this time it was Gonzaga who pulled out the win in the breaker, with GU's Leon Roider and Pablo Galvan rolling through the extra frame to win 7-6 (1) and give the Bulldogs the 1-0 team lead.

With momentum from some dramatic doubles, the Zags were then quick to clinch the team victory with three singles wins in straight sets.

Zhang only managed to win two games in his loss to Oscar Rashad on court five (0-6, 2-6), and Martin ran out of gas in the second set, falling to Galvan 4-6, 1-6 on court four. GU then secured the win on court one where Perez fell to Sasha Trkulka 2-6, 3-6.

Bittner improved to 5-0 in singles this season with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Roider on court three that got the Griz on the board at 1-4, but a loss from Wiger-Nordas put GU back up four at 1-5.

Stoeger capped the match with a win for the Griz, rebounding from a second set loss to win in a third-set tiebreaker over Tom Dunlap 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (6) to improve to 5-0 as well and make the final score 5-2 in favor of the home team.

The Griz now prepare to return to the road against next week as they head to Grand Forks for a pair of nonconference duals, facing Marquette on Saturday and North Dakota on Sunday.