Griz shut out Vikings in first dual of homestand

Saturday, March 29

Missoula, Mont.

10:30 AM

Montana

Portland State

3/29/2025 4:36:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team made the most of its return to the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula, cruising to a 7-0 win over Portland State on Saturday to open a two-match homestand.

The Griz wore down the up-for-it Vikings in doubles, coming from behind to win the opening point on the third and deciding court 7-5. It was smooth sailing from there, however, as Montana rattled-off straight-set wins on all six singles courts to pitch a shut-out in their first home match since mid-January.

UM improves to 13-5 overall this season and 3-1 in conference play with the luxury of playing three of the last four regular season duals at home, where head coach Jason Brown has guided them to an immaculate 41-7 record over the last eight years. Portland State, meanwhile, falls to 4-10 and remains winless in conference play at 0-5.

"It's nice to be back home and get another home win. Really a stellar job by the top of the order. Once things got going, they went 1, 2, 3, fairly quickly in straight sets and that didn't give these guys much hope. It was nice seeing the bottom guys pull through as well. Can't ask for anything more than six, straight-set wins," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I don't think we came out real fired up and focused, but that's on me to do a better job there. So, we'll reboot, rest up, and get ready for the Vandals tomorrow."

To win the opening doubles point Montana had to rely on a late broken serve on the third and final court before securing a 1-0 team lead.

While Baltazar Wiger-Nordas and Fernando Perez rolled to a quick 6-2 win over PSU's Kuszynski/Zuellig pair on court one to give the Griz the early lead, the Viking's Elliott/Theriault pair caught UM's Duncan McCall and Johnny Wilkinson sleeping, handing the UM duo just their sixth loss as a pair this season to tie the round 1-1.

At that point it was still anybody's round as Tom Bittner and Eivind Tandberg were neck-and-neck with PSU's Cravanzola/Prino pair, tied 5-5 on court three's deciding match.

The Vikings would punch one of Tandberg's returns long, however, and the Grizzly pair would break the PSU serve to take a 6-5 lead. With momentum and the serve in hand, the UM duo cruised in the final game to seal the 7-5 win, and the opening doubles point, all while taking the wind out of the visitor's sails.

In singles, Bittner, the defending Big Sky Player of the Week, kept up his winning form on court one, dominating Luca Prino 6-3, 6-1, for UM's first win of the round that brought the team score to 2-0.

Soon after, McCall got the monkey off his back from a doubles loss with another quick win for the Griz in singles, brezing pas Edoardo Cravanzola 6-1, 6-3, to extend the UM lead to 3-0.

Wiger-Nordas then clinched the win for UM on court two, beating Hubert Theriault handily 6-4, 6-3, to put UM up for good in the team score at 4-0.

Tandberg then earned his sixth win in his last eight outings, grinding out a first set win on court four over Andrin Zuellig before pulling away for a 7-5, 6-3 win, his 12^th of the season, which is tied for the most total wins on the team with McCall.

Fernando Perez also got in the singles win column for the first time since mid-February, snapping his seven-match slump with a straight set, 6-2, 6-3, win over Simon Kuszynski on court five to put up 6-0.

The Griz put a bow on the win with freshman Moritz Lesjak beating Hayden Elliott 7-5, 6-2 on court six to improve to 6-3 on the year and make the final score 7-0.

Montana caps the weekend slate with a Sunday morning dual against the Idaho Vandals, who come to Missoula after beating Montana State 5—2 in Bozeman on Saturday.