Bittner to represent Big Sky at ITA Conference Masters

Montana tennis ace Tom Bittner has been selected as the Big Sky's lone men's singles representative at the ITA Conference Masters Championship set for November 6-9 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.

Bitter, the reigning Big Sky Tournament MVP, was selected to represent the conference in singles by the league's head coaches, who could not vote for their own players. Takumi Katsuda and Vincent Vohl of Northern Arizona were selected as the conference's choice for men's doubles.

Each Division-I conference will send one singles player and one doubles team to San Diego to compete for a chance to advance to the NCAA Division I Individual Championships at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. Bittner has several chances to advance, with the four singles semifinalists and top three doubles teams qualifying for a trip to Florida Nov. 18-23.

The ITA Conference Masters Championships are one of four qualifying tournaments that seed the field for the NCAA Individual Championships, joining the ITA All-American Championships, the ITA Regional Championships, and the ITA Sectional Qualifiers. All told, 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams will vie for the NCAA Individual Championships.

"I think it's a deserved nomination. He's been one of, if not the best player in the conference the last couple of years and I think he's the guy who should be representing the Big Sky and have a chance to qualify for the NCAAs. Especially considering he had to overcome some injuries and he's still barely lost in the Big Sky in his entire career," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I'm excited to get him to San Diego and see if we can make some inroads on the national scene. It's a rare opportunity for us, and I hope Tommy is able to seize it."

Bittner, a senior, was ranked the No. 9 overall singles player in the Mountain Region by the ITA in the spring and was named the region's "player to watch" – the de facto preseason MVP – as well. He was a unanimous first team all-conference selection in singles after rebounding from off-season surgery to post a 13-5 season on court one.

He was also named Big Sky tournament MVP after clinching UM's win over Northern Arizona in the title match in dramatic fashion over the league's regular season MVP Dani Torres of NAU to lead the Grizzlies to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade.

Bittner is one of three players in Grizzly history and one of just four in Big Sky history to earn a regional year-end award for his play on the court. A successful appearance at the Conference Masters Tournament would make him the first Grizzly men's player to advance to the NCAA Individual Championship. UM women's player Vanessa Castellano is the only other Montanan to advance back in 1997.

Bown and the rest of the Grizzlies will join Bittner in California at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational hidden duals tournament at the Northview Tennis Courts in La Jolla Nov. 6-9 to cap the fall tournament season. Montana opens the spring duals season against Utah State in Missoula on Jan. 25.

University of Montana Athletics

Bittner to represent Big Sky at ITA Conference Masters

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