Bengals knock off Griz in Big Sky tourney

Thursday, April 25

Phoenix, Ariz.

9 AM (MT)

Montana

Idaho State

4/25/2024 2:30:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box score

By: Montana Sports Information

Third-seed Idaho State won the doubles point and three singles matches in straight sets to beat the six-seed Montana men's tennis team 4-0 in the first round of the Big Sky Conference championship tournament in Phoenix on Thursday.

With the win, the Bengals avenged a 5-2 regular season loss to Montana in Missoula. It's the first win for ISU over UM in the Big Sky tourney since 2005, with the teams now 3-3 all-time against each other in the postseason.

The loss ends Montana's season with a 14-10 record. The Griz went on a hot streak mid-season winning six of eight matches in March and early April, but capped the year with three-straight losses.

"Hat's off to Idaho State, they were the better team today. Momentum is a real thing. As much as we dominated at two doubles, we struggled on one and three. Momentum got away from us and they seized the opportunity," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I would say that we spent a season overachieving in many ways. Our guys really improved, but we've got another level to jump if we want to compete for titles, and that's what we're here to do.

"We were coming off a very tough loss on Sunday and it felt like it was still haunting us a bit. I've got to do better as a coach of erasing that, but we'll learn from this and get better for next year."

The Griz started slow in the doubles round, winning just three combined games in losses on courts one and three to give Idaho State a 1-0 lead.

Tom Bittner and Moritz Stoeger were the first to fall, losing to ISU's Sklenka/De Pellegrin pair 6-1. Soon after, the Bengals clinched the point on court three when Baltazar Wiger-Nordas and Chris Zhang lost to the Cankus/Fujita pair 6-2.

In singles, ISU kept the momentum and raced off to first set wins on five of the six courts in play.

Andreas Kramer bolted past Wiger-Nordas 6-2, 6-2, for ISU's first singles win, putting them up 2-0 in the team score.

On court six, all-conference pick Wikus Robbertse of Idaho State also made quick work of Zhang in a 6-3, 6-1, win that put the Bengals up 3-0 and putting Montana's win prospects in dire straits.

Idaho State clinched the win on court three when Victor Sklenka took down Fernando Perez in straight sets 6-4, 6-0, to seal the 4-0 win.

Bittner, a first-team all-conference singles pick, was up 3-2 in his second set on court one when the match was clinched. Stoeger, a senior captain, had won his first set and was nearly done with the second on court five at the time, and second-team all-conference pick Guillermo Martin had just won a second set in UM's other three matches that went unfinished.

Idaho State now advances on to face second-seed Sacramento State in the semifinal round. No. 4 Weber State beat No. 5 Montana State in the other first round matchup of the day. The Wildcats move on to face top-seed Northern Arizona in the other semifinal match on Friday.