Wiger-Nordas tabbed Big Sky Player of the Week

After clinching one of Montana's biggest wins in program history and going undefeated on a two-match road trip, Grizzly junior Baltazar Wiger-Nordas has been named the Big Sky Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week, the league announced Wednesday. It's the first weekly honor of his career.

Wiger-Nordas went a combined 3-0 in singles and doubles over the course of a 2-0 weekend for the Griz, with his second doubles match going unfinished. He was the clincher in UM's historic 5-2 upset over Air Force in Colorado Springs on Saturday and swept his opponent from Metro State in straight sets on Sunday.

The Norwegian partnered with senior Fernando Perez on court one doubles to beat Air Force's Kersten/Brown pair 6-4 to help UM secure the all-important opening point.

In singles, he defeated Falcon senior Phillip Deaton on court two in three marathon sets, coming out on top in a first set tiebreaker and going the distance in the other two sets to win a nailbiter 7-6 (1), 5-7, 7-5.

His victory over Deaton clinched UM's fourth point and the team win over their Mountain West opponent. It was Montana's first-ever win at Air Force, and its second in the last four years.

He capped the weekend with a straight set win in UM's 7-0 team win over Metro State on a neutral site at the Academy. Again on court two, he defeated Alejandro Jiminez 6-4, 6-0 and went unfinished in doubles when the point was clinched for UM.

Wiger-Nordas has been on a tear in the 2024-25 season, rolling through the fall tournament slate with a 10-2 singles record and two consecutive tournament titles. He's now 4-1 in singles overall in spring duals and 3-0 when playing on court two.

"I'm proud of him. He's continued to work hard and it's paying off. When he's dialed-in, he's as good as anyone in the Big Sky," said head coach Jason Brown.

"It was nice to see him get through a really, really tight match on the road, and I think that sets, not only him, but the team up for a lot of success moving forward."

That's the CLINCHER from Balty! 🔥#GoGriz #GrizMTEN pic.twitter.com/nfyHzZyhCe
— Montana Griz Men's Tennis 🎾 (@MontanaGrizMTEN) February 9, 2025

As a sophomore he earned second-team All-Big Sky honors in doubles. Off the court he's a two-time Academic All-Big Sky honoree and an ITA Scholar Athlete who was the co-recipient of the 2024 UM President's Award for the student-athlete with the highest overall GPA.

Montana is now 6-0 on the season, its best start since 2022 when the Griz also beat Air Force in Missoula and wound up going 15-5 on the year with an appearance in the Big Sky semifinal.

UM now prepares to hit the road again for a pair of tune-ups against Whitman and Lewis-Clark State before testing itself again at Gonzaga on Feb. 23, then opening conference play at Sacramento State in early March.

University of Montana Athletics

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Fernando Perez

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

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