Saturday, February 10
Missoula, Mont.
10:30 AM
Montana
vs
Whitman
Photo by: Tanner Ecker/University of Montana
Men’s tennis looks to remain unbeaten in Saturday home dual
2/8/2024 6:49:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Montana's home courts at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula have been very good to the Grizzly men's tennis team over the years.
With head coach Jason Brown currently sitting at 36-5 at home with three undefeated seasons in Missoula since 2018, the Peak has been a virtual impenetrable fortress for would-be attackers and has been key to Montana's success over the years.
With the top half of the Big Sky preseason poll all scheduled to visit Missoula come April, Montana is once again going to need every ounce of home court advantage it can muster this season.
This weekend, the 4-0 Grizzlies get one last opportunity in the nonconference slate to build that momentum when the D-III Whitman Blues (0-3) visit for a dual at the Peak on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 10:30 a.m.
"I think our main focus this weekend is just to keep establishing our comfort zone and the belief that we can dominate on our home courts. If everything goes well Saturday, we'll be off to a 5-0 start and our final four matches in the Peak will all be incredibly important conference matches that will sort of determine the fate of our season," said Brown.
"So, we're excited about that opportunity this weekend. The best years we've had as a program are when we've gone undefeated at home, and we're coming off a nice win over Grand Canyon. It just bodes so well for the rest of the season because winning on the road in college tennis is always tricky."
FREE DONUT DAY: Fans attending Montana's Saturday morning dual against Whitman will be treated to a breakfast of champions – free donuts – courtesy of Griz tennis. Admission to the Peak Racquet Club is open to the public and free of charge. The Peak is located off Blue Mountain Road south of Missoula. Start time is set for 10:30 a.m.
COVERAGE: Links to live scoring from the Peak can be found on the schedule page at GoGriz.com/MTEN. Live updates are also available on the team's twitter (@MontanaGrizMTEN) and Instagram (@montanagrizmten) feeds.
A GLIMPSE AT THE GRIZ: Montana enters the weekend dual sitting perfect at 4-0 on the season after a pair of out-of-conference home wins, taking a 7-0 shutout over Eastern Washington and capping the week with a dramatic 4-1 win over GCU.
The Griz have (just as Brown is hoping) been dominant to start the season as well, losing just four of the 38 sets of tennis completed to date in four overall matches.
It's the best start to a season since 2022 when UM went 9-0 to start the year, knocking off Air Force and Boise State en route to a Big Sky semifinal appearance.
Montana is 3-1 in doubles, having bounced back from an opening-point loss to GCU to clinch the match in singles.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Fernando Perez has been one of the big reasons Montana's been off to a flying start this season, going undefeated last week and clinching UM's win over GCU to earn the first Big Sky Player of the Week honors of his career.
The junior from Murica, Spain, breezed past Caden Kammerer of Eastern Washington 6-1, 6-1, in a 7-0 Grizzly win. He followed that up by grinding out a two-hour, three set, come-from-behind win over fellow Spaniard Pablo Salvador 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, to clinch the 4-1 win over GCU.
"I'm just so pumped for him. He's such a great kid and a joy to coach, and it's just nice to see his hard work paying off. He put in a lot of work over the break and came back focused, so it was really cool," said Brown.
"An award like that also builds momentum for the guys, seeing their teammate get some notoriety. We talked about the guys who have won that award and set a goal for all of them to do it. You've got to go undefeated to earn it, and you're helping your team as much as possible by doing that."
Perez has been the only Grizzly to play in and complete every match at 4-0 in singles. Tom Bittner, Guillermo Martin, Moritz Stoeger, and Chris Zhang each have the second-best record on the team at 3-0.
SCOUTING WHITMAN: The 0-3 Blues have one comparative D-I and Big Sky loss on their schedule after falling at Idaho state last week 7-0 in just their second match of the Season. Led by long-time head coach Jeff Northam, Whitman is coming off a 2023 season where they finished third in the Northwest Conference standings.
The Blues are led by returning first-team all-conference junior Harshvardhan Chopra, and second team picks Diego Guzman and Lucas Huang, also juniors.
UP NEXT: Montana hits the road for the first time this season and will face a tall task at Gonzaga on Sunday, Feb. 18. The Griz then head east for a pair of matches in Grand Forks, taking on North Dakota on Feb. 24 and playing a neutral site dual against Marquette the following day.
With head coach Jason Brown currently sitting at 36-5 at home with three undefeated seasons in Missoula since 2018, the Peak has been a virtual impenetrable fortress for would-be attackers and has been key to Montana's success over the years.
With the top half of the Big Sky preseason poll all scheduled to visit Missoula come April, Montana is once again going to need every ounce of home court advantage it can muster this season.
This weekend, the 4-0 Grizzlies get one last opportunity in the nonconference slate to build that momentum when the D-III Whitman Blues (0-3) visit for a dual at the Peak on Saturday, Feb. 10, at 10:30 a.m.
"I think our main focus this weekend is just to keep establishing our comfort zone and the belief that we can dominate on our home courts. If everything goes well Saturday, we'll be off to a 5-0 start and our final four matches in the Peak will all be incredibly important conference matches that will sort of determine the fate of our season," said Brown.
"So, we're excited about that opportunity this weekend. The best years we've had as a program are when we've gone undefeated at home, and we're coming off a nice win over Grand Canyon. It just bodes so well for the rest of the season because winning on the road in college tennis is always tricky."
FREE DONUT DAY: Fans attending Montana's Saturday morning dual against Whitman will be treated to a breakfast of champions – free donuts – courtesy of Griz tennis. Admission to the Peak Racquet Club is open to the public and free of charge. The Peak is located off Blue Mountain Road south of Missoula. Start time is set for 10:30 a.m.
COVERAGE: Links to live scoring from the Peak can be found on the schedule page at GoGriz.com/MTEN. Live updates are also available on the team's twitter (@MontanaGrizMTEN) and Instagram (@montanagrizmten) feeds.
A GLIMPSE AT THE GRIZ: Montana enters the weekend dual sitting perfect at 4-0 on the season after a pair of out-of-conference home wins, taking a 7-0 shutout over Eastern Washington and capping the week with a dramatic 4-1 win over GCU.
The Griz have (just as Brown is hoping) been dominant to start the season as well, losing just four of the 38 sets of tennis completed to date in four overall matches.
It's the best start to a season since 2022 when UM went 9-0 to start the year, knocking off Air Force and Boise State en route to a Big Sky semifinal appearance.
Montana is 3-1 in doubles, having bounced back from an opening-point loss to GCU to clinch the match in singles.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Fernando Perez has been one of the big reasons Montana's been off to a flying start this season, going undefeated last week and clinching UM's win over GCU to earn the first Big Sky Player of the Week honors of his career.
The junior from Murica, Spain, breezed past Caden Kammerer of Eastern Washington 6-1, 6-1, in a 7-0 Grizzly win. He followed that up by grinding out a two-hour, three set, come-from-behind win over fellow Spaniard Pablo Salvador 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, to clinch the 4-1 win over GCU.
"I'm just so pumped for him. He's such a great kid and a joy to coach, and it's just nice to see his hard work paying off. He put in a lot of work over the break and came back focused, so it was really cool," said Brown.
"An award like that also builds momentum for the guys, seeing their teammate get some notoriety. We talked about the guys who have won that award and set a goal for all of them to do it. You've got to go undefeated to earn it, and you're helping your team as much as possible by doing that."
Perez has been the only Grizzly to play in and complete every match at 4-0 in singles. Tom Bittner, Guillermo Martin, Moritz Stoeger, and Chris Zhang each have the second-best record on the team at 3-0.
SCOUTING WHITMAN: The 0-3 Blues have one comparative D-I and Big Sky loss on their schedule after falling at Idaho state last week 7-0 in just their second match of the Season. Led by long-time head coach Jeff Northam, Whitman is coming off a 2023 season where they finished third in the Northwest Conference standings.
The Blues are led by returning first-team all-conference junior Harshvardhan Chopra, and second team picks Diego Guzman and Lucas Huang, also juniors.
UP NEXT: Montana hits the road for the first time this season and will face a tall task at Gonzaga on Sunday, Feb. 18. The Griz then head east for a pair of matches in Grand Forks, taking on North Dakota on Feb. 24 and playing a neutral site dual against Marquette the following day.
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