Griz beat Gaels to cap road trip with a win

Saturday, March 8

Davis, Calif.

11 AM (MT)

Montana

Saint Mary's

3/8/2025 4:34:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team wrapped up an action-packed trip to California with a 4-2 win over the Saint Mary's Gaels on Saturday to cap its appearance at the Golden State Invitational at UC Davis.

After 10 hours on the court Friday and three matches in the last two days that included a conference win over defending Big Sky champion Sac State, the Griz had to gut-out a narrow win over the Gaels with tired bodies.

Montana needed a tiebreaker to claim the doubles point and went on to seal the team victory with three wins at the bottom of the singles lineup to take a W the nonconference dual played to clinch.

With the halfway point of the season now behind them, the Griz improve to 10-3 overall and remain at 1-0 in conference play after beating the Hornets Friday morning. Montana opened the trip with a rain-delayed loss at Pacific on Thursday and split their Friday matches with a morning win over Sac and an evening loss to Nevada. Today's win over SMC but a bow on a busy weekend.

"That was a battle against a really good team that is used to playing outside and is tough to beat, and we're still getting adjusted," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I hate losing tennis matches and we haven't lost too many this season, but I still felt really good about both of our losses this weekend. I thought we competed really hard, all the guys played multiple matches and the whole lineup contributed. So, we're building for later in the season and this win, and our performance this week, felt really good. We got the important win yesterday and we're happy to head home with another today."

Montana got off to a slow start in doubles, with SMC's Greco/Etchcoin pair beating Duncan McCall and Johnny Wilkinson 6-3 on court two, giving the Gaels an early lead. Fernando Perez and Baltazar Wiger-Nordas bounced back from an early deficit to beat the Ramos/T. Maxant pair 7-5 on court one, however, tying the round.

The Griz claimed the opening point on court three when Eivind Tandbert and Tom Bittner won a marathon tibreaker over the Dyer/B. Maxant pair 7-6 (9) to give Montana a 1-0 team lead heading to singles.

UM extended the lead on court six when Grizzly freshman Moritz Lesjak cruised past B. Maxant 6-3, 6-1 on court six to make it a 2-0 match shortly before Perez lost in straight sets on court four to cut the lead to 2-1.

McCall then capped his weekend with the freshman's third singles win in four outings on court three, making it a 3-1 Grizzly lead.
Playing hurt, Bittner then dropped a match against Carlos Ramos on court one to make it a 3-2 Grizzly lead, leaving the outcome of the dual resting on courts two and five, one of which was in a third set and the other a first set tiebreaker.

Montana clinched on court five, however, when Tandberg earned his third-straight win of the weekend, beating Francisco Duran 7-6 (5), 6-4, to make the final score 4-2 in UM's favor.

The Griz now prepare to head to the desert on March 14 for another outdoor match at Grand Canyon in Phoenix, the city that will host the Big Sky tourney in a little over a month's time. UM returns to conference play two days later, traveling to Flagstaff to take on Northern Arizona.

Results
Montana 4, Saint Mary's 2

Doubles
1 Perez/Wiger-Nordas (UM) def. Ramos/T. Maxant (SMC) 7-5
2 Greco/Etchecoin (SMC) def. McCall/Wilkinson (UM) 6-3
3 Bittner/Tandberg (UM) def. Dyer/B. Maxant (SMC) 7-6 (9)
Order of Finish: 2,1,3

Singles
1 Carlos Ramos (SMC) def. Tom Bittner (UM) 6-1, 6-4
2 Paulo Etchecoin (SMC) vs Baltazar Wiger-Nordas (UM) 6-3, 2-6, 4-3, unfinished
3 Duncan McCall (UM) def. T. Maxant (SMC) 6-2, 6-4
4 Finn Dyler (SMC) def. Fernando Perez (UM) 6-3, 6-3
5 Eivind Tandberg (UM) def. Francisco Duran (SMC) 7-6 (5), 6-4
6 Moritz Lesjak (UM) def. B. Maxant (SMC) 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 3, 1, 5