Griz head to Portland seeking rebound

The Montana men's tennis team will look to return to its winning ways this week as the Grizzlies travel to Oregon for a pair of duals against the Portland Pilots and Portland State Vikings.

To do it, they'll need to get nurse some bodies back to health though as UM heads to the Rose City having lost three of their last four matches while suffering a rash of injuries.

But the Griz have proven they know how to win this season. At 8-4 overall, UM won seven of its first eight matches this season and was on the cusp of becoming nationally ranked before injuries started taking a toll.

After falling at Idaho in their Big Sky opener last week, the Griz head to Oregon seeking a bounce-back to move to 1-1 in conference play and perhaps pick up a nonconference upset along the way.

"Portland is always a real challenging WCC team, but we don't have any real expectations there other than getting some reps for the guys," said head coach Jason Brown.

"But looking at our schedule, we're going to have to get some road wins in the Big Sky and Portland State is one that's going to be really important. They're much improved from last year and always tough at home, so hopefully we get our guys healthy enough to compete with what we feel like is our best lineup and go get after it.

"The guys have responded well after a challenging situation at Idaho, and we still have a fairly young team, so hopefully they understand what it takes on the road and the intensity of these conference matches."

Montana has been with the limited use of three of its most experienced players over the last three weeks, including a Big Sky Player of the Week in Fernando Perez, and All-Big Sky honorees Moritz Stoeger and Guillermo Martin.

In last week's Big Sky opener, Perez battled through shoulder pain and was forced to serve underhand, limiting his game but battling to a narrow loss. Stoeger also went down injured during his match and was forced to retire early, while Martin won his first set, but slowed down later in the match in a third set loss.

But the Griz HAVE had the services of Tom Bittner, and the sophomore has been nearly unstoppable. The sophomore heads to Oregon undefeated at 9-0 on the season, holding down the middle of the lineup at 7-0 on court three and 2-0 on court two.

He's the only player with more than 6 wins who is still undefeated in the Big Sky Conference and is one of only two in the league with 9 total wins.

Chris Zhang suffered just his second loss of the year at Idaho, falling to 7-2 as one of UM's top performers so far this season, also holding down the middle of the lineup at 3-0 on court four and 2-0 on six.

With UM's injuries piling up, the depth of the lineup has been thrust into action. Newcomer Dragos Bucurescu could potentially play a big role in the Grizzlies' weekend in Portland, with the freshman now at 5-1 on the season.

The Griz open the trip on Friday morning at the University of Portland's Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center, with the doubles round kicking off a t 11 a.m. (MT). UM caps the trip against the Vikings at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center in Beaverton on Sunday at 10 a.m. (MT). Links to live scoring and a live video stream of the Portland match can be found on the schedule page of GoGriz.com.

SCOUTING THE PILOTS: Portland was picked fifth in the preseason WCC standings, a league top-loaded with some of the premiere programs in the country. At 4-3 on the year, the pilots start their weekend against Montana on Friday before opening conference play against Gonzaga on Sunday.

Three of UP's four wins have come from regional Big Sky opponents, having already taken a 5-2 win over Portland State , a 7-0 win over EWU, and a 6-1 win over Montana State, all at home. Sophomore Nikola Keremedchiev has been the Pilot's top performer at 5-1 this season and 14-5 overall this year.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: Portland State was picked to finish eighth of nine teams in the Big Sky Preseason Poll after finishing 2-5 in league play last year, but one conference win this season over EWU. At 4-5 on the year and 1-2 in conference play, the Vikings are led by sophomore Luka Jovanovic and Hubert Theriault who have both racked up five singles wins so far this season.

Montana's last trip to Portland in 2022 netted the Griz a 7-0 win, and they followed that up with another 7-0 win in Missoula last season.

UP NEXT: Montana heads to Boise over spring break for an invitational duals tournament with six teams mixing and matching opponents for three nonconference matches at the Appleton Tennis Center.

The Griz then make a return to conference play and a much-anticipated return to Missoula with three key league matches in the Peak Racquet Club, starting with Sacramento State on March 28.

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Players Mentioned

Tom Bittner

Dragos Bucurescu

Guillermo Martin

Fernando Perez

Moritz Stoeger

Chris Zhang

University of Montana Athletics