Griz storm back to beat Wildcats 5-2

Saturday, April 6

Missoula, Mont.

10:30 AM

Montana

Weber State

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

4/6/2024 5:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

As someone famous once sang: "one of these things is not like the other."

That was the Montana men's tennis team on Saturday, putting on a night and day different performance in singles and doubles, but coming away with a come-from-behind 5-2 win over Weber State in Missoula.

It looked like the Griz hadn't even got off the bus in the opening doubles round, with Weber State – historically a strong doubles team – rolling over Montana 6-1, 6-3 on the first two courts.

The energy at the Peak Racquet Club was down, the Wildcats had a 1-0 lead with mountains of momentum, and Montana's hopes for a crucial Big Sky Conference win were bleak.

Then singles started, and like a tidal wave everything changed.

The Griz flipped then script and put on a clinic, dominating with straight set wins on the top four courts where WSU couldn't win more than four games in each, clinching the win at 4-1 then splitting the last two singles matches.

"That was great. We had like a lot of spectators supporting us. I think we all broke their serves very early in the first set and then we just kept rolling. From then on we just didn't give them any chances," said Tom Bittner.

A week after completing one of the most improbable comebacks possible in doubles, Montana did it in singles, taking a win loaded with postseason implications.

Weber State came to Missoula sitting second in the Big Sky standings at 3-1 in league play, fresh off an upset win over preseason favorite Northern Arizona. The loss puts them at 7-11 overall and 3-2 in conference play with just two weeks to play in the regular season.

Montana improved to 13-7 on the year and 3-2 in the Big Sky, all but guaranteeing the Griz a place in the conference tourney and boosting their confidence with just three matches left to play.

"From the from the coaching standpoint, if I'm going to take credit for the turnaround, I'm going to take all the blame for whatever travesty that doublets was because I did not have these guys prepared to go. We looked like we were sleeping for the first 20 minutes," said head coach Jason Brown.

"But in my mind, this response was better than being 5-1 down in doubles against Idaho State because we won so convincingly on all four courts. It was the best level of singles we've played all season by a mile to beat those four guys specifically in straight sets. That was the exact level we needed to find at this point in the season."

Gallery: (4-6-2024) MTEN: Montana vs Weber State (4.6.24)

Doubles was nothing to write home about for the Griz.

The always-energetic Wildcats came out and immediately took control, building large leads on the top two courts before UM got on the board.

Weber State got the first win on court two, with the Coutnho/Kruger pair beating Moritz Stoeger and Baltazar Wiger-Nordas – last week's doubles heroes – 6-3.

Not long after the Wildcats clinched the opening point ono court one with a 6-1 win for the Marouani/Sarapp pair over Guillermo Martin and Fernando Perez to put the visitors up 1-0 convincingly.

That's when Brown circled up his troops and reset the focus.

"I probably gave about a stern a speech as I've ever given between the two rounds about testing their manhood and their character and how bad they really want to represent their school and how much they want to fight for each other," said Brown.

Whatever he said, it worked.

Guillermo Martin started the comeback in singles with a one-way track meet of a match on court four, mowing over Jordan Coutinho 6-1, 6-0, to give UM the momentum and level the team score 1-1.

"Guillermo played as close to a perfect college tennis match as I've ever seen. I mean, we're talking two unforced errors in the whole match. I've never seen anything like that," added Brown.

Meanwhile the Griz fed off that dominant energy on the other courts, all finishing within minutes of each other.

Wiger-Nordas started slow against a fired-up Elyes Marouani on court two, but flipped a switch and rattled off seven-straight games in a row to take a 3-1 lead in the second set, eventually going on to win 6-3, 6-1, and Give UM the lead 2-1.

"We just needed Baltazar to be real steady, and he slowly broke his opponents will. That kid is very talented and they played some really good tennis points, but 'Balty' stepped up with his mental strength to win," Brown added.

Bittner was the next to finish on court one, breaking a chippy Tristan Sarap in the first set to go up 2-1 and following that up with another broken serve to take a 4-1 lead before taking the win.

In the second set he found himself tied 2-2 but held serve and smashed an ace to go up 4-3. He then showed his touch with a drop shot winner to make it 5-3, and on deuce match point threw down another ace to win 6-1, 6-3 to improve to 13-2 on the year.

"We lost to these guys last year at their place. They're a tricky team to play. They're loud and try to get in your heads and they were successful doing that in doubles. But our level was just too big compared to their level, especially at the Peak, and in singles we didn't give them any chances," said Bittner.

Less than a minute after Bittner won, Perez sealed the deal for Montana with the clinch on court three. The Grizzly junior found himself down 1-2 but won three-straight games to claim the first set over Connor Kruger. He then broke Kruger's serve in the second set to go up 2-1 en route to a 6-3, 6-1 win that put UM up for good 4-1.

With the match in hand, Stoeger claimed the Grizzlies' last win of the day on court five, blowing past William Zulch 6-2, 6-2. The senior continued his string of success in Missoula, having not lost a set of singles at the Peak all season.

UP NEXT: The Griz head to Cheney on Thursday for a mid-week dual against the winless Eastern Washington Eagles before returning to Missoula to take on NAU on Sunday, April 14 at 9 a.m.