Bittner’s gritty win leads him to Player of the Week honors
3/26/2025 10:53:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Baseball fans will remember when Kirk Gibson hobbled up to the plate for the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series and hit a walk-off home run, pumping his fists as he limped around second to clinch a historic win for L.A.
It's a scenario every sports fan dreams of: your team's best player, battling through injury and coming up big under pressure to secure a win.
While college tennis isn't quite the same as the World Series, Montana junior Tom Bittner came through in a similar scenario for the Grizzly men on Sunday, overcoming injury to win a third set tiebreaker that clinched a dramatic, come-from-behind, 4-3 road win – UM's first at Weber State since 2012.
The gritty performance didn't go unnoticed, with the Big Sky Conference naming him the men's tennis Player of the Week on Wednesday. It's the first weekly honor for Bittner this season, and the second of his career after winning once during his highly decorated sophomore season where he was a unanimous first-team all-conference pick, team MVP, and the No. 10 ranked player in the Mountain Region.
"Usually, I think he could win this award every week, but this season has been a little different for him having an off-season surgery and missing the fall. That's what makes this award a little more special. It's been a battle against his own body this season and he's finally found his level again. It hasn't been easy, but he's done all the right things off the court to give himself a chance to play for the Griz. So, it's fun to see him reap the rewards for putting in the work," said head coach Jason Brown.
"For me, he was player of the week just because of the way he played in the tiebreaker. It was really special tennis. There is no bigger pressure cooker in college tennis than a third set tiebreaker at number one to decide a team match, and he showed what he's made of under pressure."
With Montana and Weber State tied 3-3 in Ogden, Bitter was the last man standing for UM on court one, with the winner of the match between him and Wildcat senior Tristan Sarap deciding the winner of the dual between rivals UM and WSU.
The Grizzly German opened the match with a 6-3 win in the first set but was topped in the second 4-6 to set up a deciding third. With several chances for Bittner to win, Sarap hung around and forced a tiebreaker in the final frame.
That's when he took charge, dominating the breaker 7-1 to win the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (1), to put UM over the top, 4-3.
"He was up 4-1 in the third and gave it back, had a match point up 4-5 second serve deuce point and tubed the return long, but then played a tiebreaker that probably would have beat anyone on God's green earth. Huge serves, great returns, great movement, just an absolutely flawless tiebreaker to seal it all up," Brown said following the match.
Bittner is the second Player of the Week recipient for the Griz this season. Baltazar Wiger-Nordas earned weekly honors from the league for the first time in his career in early February after clinching a win at Air Force in an undefeated weekend in Colorado.
Montana now sits at 12-5 on the season and carries the best overall win percentage in the Big Sky Conference.
The Griz now have the opportunity to expand on that record with four of their last five matches of the regular season played on their home courts at the Peak Racquet Club where they hold an astounding 40-7 record over the last eight seasons.
Montana begins the home stand this weekend when Portland State comes to Missoula on Saturday followed by a visit from the Idaho Vandals on Sunday. Both matches get underway at the Peak at 10:30 a.m., are free to attend, and open to the public.
It's a scenario every sports fan dreams of: your team's best player, battling through injury and coming up big under pressure to secure a win.
While college tennis isn't quite the same as the World Series, Montana junior Tom Bittner came through in a similar scenario for the Grizzly men on Sunday, overcoming injury to win a third set tiebreaker that clinched a dramatic, come-from-behind, 4-3 road win – UM's first at Weber State since 2012.
The gritty performance didn't go unnoticed, with the Big Sky Conference naming him the men's tennis Player of the Week on Wednesday. It's the first weekly honor for Bittner this season, and the second of his career after winning once during his highly decorated sophomore season where he was a unanimous first-team all-conference pick, team MVP, and the No. 10 ranked player in the Mountain Region.
"Usually, I think he could win this award every week, but this season has been a little different for him having an off-season surgery and missing the fall. That's what makes this award a little more special. It's been a battle against his own body this season and he's finally found his level again. It hasn't been easy, but he's done all the right things off the court to give himself a chance to play for the Griz. So, it's fun to see him reap the rewards for putting in the work," said head coach Jason Brown.
"For me, he was player of the week just because of the way he played in the tiebreaker. It was really special tennis. There is no bigger pressure cooker in college tennis than a third set tiebreaker at number one to decide a team match, and he showed what he's made of under pressure."
With Montana and Weber State tied 3-3 in Ogden, Bitter was the last man standing for UM on court one, with the winner of the match between him and Wildcat senior Tristan Sarap deciding the winner of the dual between rivals UM and WSU.
The Grizzly German opened the match with a 6-3 win in the first set but was topped in the second 4-6 to set up a deciding third. With several chances for Bittner to win, Sarap hung around and forced a tiebreaker in the final frame.
That's when he took charge, dominating the breaker 7-1 to win the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (1), to put UM over the top, 4-3.
"He was up 4-1 in the third and gave it back, had a match point up 4-5 second serve deuce point and tubed the return long, but then played a tiebreaker that probably would have beat anyone on God's green earth. Huge serves, great returns, great movement, just an absolutely flawless tiebreaker to seal it all up," Brown said following the match.
Bittner is the second Player of the Week recipient for the Griz this season. Baltazar Wiger-Nordas earned weekly honors from the league for the first time in his career in early February after clinching a win at Air Force in an undefeated weekend in Colorado.
Montana now sits at 12-5 on the season and carries the best overall win percentage in the Big Sky Conference.
The Griz now have the opportunity to expand on that record with four of their last five matches of the regular season played on their home courts at the Peak Racquet Club where they hold an astounding 40-7 record over the last eight seasons.
Montana begins the home stand this weekend when Portland State comes to Missoula on Saturday followed by a visit from the Idaho Vandals on Sunday. Both matches get underway at the Peak at 10:30 a.m., are free to attend, and open to the public.
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