Griz roar back, beat ‘Lopes in thriller

Friday, March 14

Phoenix, Ariz.

Noon (MT)

Montana

Grand Canyon

3/14/2025 6:43:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

With a hat-tip to March Madness, it was the tennis equivalent of an overtime buzzer beater.

The Montana men's tennis team pulled out a third set tiebreaker by the last man standing to earn a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind road win over the Grand Canyon Antelopes in Phoenix to open its two-match tour of Arizona on Friday.

With the Griz trailing the whole day, UM junior Baltazar Wiger-Nordas sealed the go-ahead team point in the most dramatic fashion possible, rallying from a loss in his second set to clinch the overall win with a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (5) victory in a tiebreaker.

The dual started by going from bad to worse for the Griz when GCU – ranked No. 62 in the nation just two weeks ago – rolled to a win in doubles before extending their lead when UM standout Tom Bittner retired on singles court one with an injury.

Before the Griz could even catch their breath the 'Lopes were out to a 2-0 lead and things were looking bleak.

Then Montana caught fire, winning two of the next three matches in straight sets to seize the momentum and capping the comeback off with a pair of clutch three-set victories – one from senior Chris Zhang on court six and the clincher from Wiger-Nordas on court two.

"I was so resigned to losing that match after how poorly we started and all the bad things that happened to us. Our doubles looked sluggish. It was as poorly as we've played doubles this season across the board. We're on the road. We had some guys banged up, especially in singles, but then we had four guys step up, get a couple of quick wins on courts five and three and that changed everything," said head coach Jason Brown.

"We had no business winning this match, but I think we won because this team really loves each other and showed a ton of heart today. A ton of heart."

The win marked Montana's third over the 'Lopes in the last five years but the first on GCU's home courts in Phoenix, which just happens to be where the upcoming Big Sky Championships will play out at the end of April.

The outdoor win in the desert improves the Griz to 11-3 overall and 1-0 in Big Sky play heading into the always-challenging road match in Flagstaff against Northern Arizona. Grand Canyon falls to 9-4.

UM fell behind early in doubles with a loss on court two but were in striking distance of winning a third-straight opening round with a narrow lead on court one and trailing by just a point on court three.

Wiger-Nordas and Fernando Perez (who entered the day with just one loss as a pair this season at 5-1), were up 4-3 on court one while Bittner and Eivind Tandberg were down by just a point (3-4) on three. But Wiger-Nordas and Perez had their serve broke to fall behind 4-5, eventually losing the set 6-4 and giving the opening point to GCU.

Moving to singles, the Grizzlies started the round strong with early with leads on five of the six courts and wins in four first sets, enough to pull out the team win if chalk held.

Then the remnants of a long-time injury reared its ugly head, forcing Bittner – a defending first-team all-conference pick – to retire on court one, and GCU went up 2-0 in a short order.

Eivind Tandberg then got the first win of the day for UM, sweeping his match on court five 6-3, 6-2 over Jonathan De Silva to put UM on the board 2-1. It was the junior's fourth-straight singles win after earning UM's nomination for Big Sky Player of the Week last week in California with a pair of clinches.

Perez was the next to finish for Montana, coming out on the wrong end of a 3-6, 2-6, loss to Finbar McGarvey on court four that extended the GCU lead 3-1.

But just minutes later Montana scored again when Duncan McCall picked up his fourth singles win in the last five outings with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Paolo Rosati on court three that cut the 'Lopes lead to 3-2 with two courts remaining.

Senior Chris Zhang, who was the clincher for the Griz in the season opener against North Dakota, then won this fourth three-setter of the season, beating GCU's Diordan Macababbad 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, to knot the team score at three-all.

Wiger-Nordas has made a habit of coming through in clutch moments this season. He earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career in mid-February after clinching another big time win for the Griz at Air Force.

With Montana's hopes of an upset riding squarely on his shoulders, he did it again.

The Norwegian rolled to a first set win but was taken down in the second, resting the dual outcome on a knife-edge in a third and final set. That set would then go the distance, with neither player able to separate themselves before heading to a tiebreaker.

The extra tennis remained tight, but eventually Wiger-Nordas' experience shone through, pulling out the victory over Brice Patoux 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (5), and giving Montana the 4-3 team victory.

"Balty just played an immaculate tiebreak against a really good player. He played sharp and made a bunch of great decisions. I'm really happy for him and proud of him," said Brown.

"To clinch in enemy territory is always special. You get to do that maybe once or twice in your college career and he played a beautiful tiebreak to bring it home for the Griz."