Griz blank Cats 7-0

Saturday, April 19

Missoula, Mont.

1:30 PM

Montana

Montana State

4/19/2025 7:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team broke Montana State's proverbial backs in a doubles round to remember before going on to sweep the Bobcats in singles to earn a dominant 7-0 Brawl of the Wild win in Missoula on Saturday.

In college tennis, the opening doubles round often sets the tone and secures the momentum for the winner. Boy did it ever for the Grizzlies.

After splitting courts one and three, juniors Tom Bittner and Eivind Tandberg won five straight points in a tiebreaker and Bittner smashed the winning ace to secure a thrilling, come-from-behind, 7-6 (4) victory on court two that gave the Griz the important 1-0 lead.

With all the momentum in-hand, Montana then tallied straight set wins on all six singles courts to complete the 7-0 sweep in front of a boisterous crowd at the Peak Racquet Club.

The Griz now cap the regular season at 16-6 overall – a mark tied for the most wins in program history – while remaining undefeated in Missoula at 5-0 for the fourth time since 2018 under head coach Jason Brown.

UM also concludes the season at 6-2 in Big Sky play, tied for second in the league standings. However, the Grizzlies did not receive the help they needed from Portland State against Idaho State on Saturday, meaning Montana will take the No. 3 seed at the conference championship tournament in Phoenix next week.

Montana's win also puts an end to the Bobcats' season, with MSU eliminated from the tournament at 4-19 overall and 2-6 in league play.

"They gave us everything we could possibly ask for. In a rivalry match, you know how hard they're going to compete. I thought the Cats played really excellent doubles, put us under a ton of pressure. We probably got a little fortunate and then took that momentum and rolled," said Brown.

"Our guys believe they will win inside the Peak, and it showed in singles. It felt like everybody was in control, played within themselves and did what we asked of them. Honestly, I couldn't be more proud of this team and how they've competed throughout the season, but especially at home."

Gallery: (4-19-2025) MTEN: vs Montana State (4.19.25)

Indeed, Montana State brought the energy to the Peak, putting the Griz in a hole early in doubles with a convincing 6-2 win on court three from the Elaroussy/Chantron pair over Duncan McCall and Eivind Tandberg, who have been one of the top pairings in the league all season.

Things were looking grim for UM on court one as well as MSU's Bezbordov/Stewart pair clawed their way back from a 2-4 deficit to trail 5-6 with serve late in the match. Grizzly No. 1 pair Fernando Perez and Baltazar Wiger-Nordas broke their serve when it was needed most, however, pulling away for the 7-5 win to split on one and three.

With that, Bittner and Tandberg weren't going to go down easy.

On court two both teams held serve for virtually the entire set, as the two Grizzlies battled back from being down 40-15 in match point for MSU at 6-5, with Bittner forcing the tiebreaker with a wrist-flick return to make it 6-6.

There, the Griz found themselves down again, trailing 2-4 in the extra frame. Bittner would start the comeback, however, firing a return at Biss' feet to make it 3-4 and taking advantage of an MSU double-fault that knotted the breaker up 4-4. With Bittner now on serve, the German sealed the win with two-straight points, the last of which was a huge ace to seal the doubles win and whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

"Honestly, I think what got us through was just the big crowd we had. I've never seen that many people here at the Peak, and it helped in big moments hearing them cheer for us, and the team on the sideline was huge for us too. But I think we just backed ourselves in the big moments and I'm happy it paid off. It's an awesome feeling," said Bittner.

"I just thought, okay, now we got them. Especially with me serving twice. I thought, let's just finish it out. I have a lot of confidence and feel really comfortable being in that situation, so I knew that was the change of momentum we needed, and we'd bring it home."

From there it was game-on for the Grizzlies headed into singles, with Eivind Tandberg nearly blanked Big Sky Freshman of the Year candidate Camille Chantron 6-1, 6-0, on court four to put the Griz up 2-0 in the team score.

Bittner kept the gas down for the Griz, beating Dimitri Bezbordov in short order 6-3, 6-2, on court one to make it a 3-0 Montana lead.

Duncan McCall, also a candidate for Freshman of the Year, then clinched the victory for the Griz, beating Yassin Elaroussy 6-3, 6-4, on court three to put Montana up for good 4-0.

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas added to the team total with a gritty win on court two, beating Andre Stewart in a first set tiebreaker 7-6 (5), 7-5, to put UM up 5-0. Seniors Fernando Perez and Chriz Zhang then completed the senior day shutout with wins on courts five and six, respectively.

"We're obviously never going to overlook this match. Ever. But we also said that the most important thing is coming up Thursday at the Big Sky tournament. That's what the big target of the season is. So, you can't ask for anything better than your whole lineup getting Ws to prepare for the tournament and try to go to the NCAA's. That's what the season is really about," said Brown.

UP NEXT: Montana will take the No. 3 seed at the Big Sky tourney in Phoenix and is likely to face No. 6 seed Sacramento State in the first round on Thursday morning. The Griz beat the Hornets 5-2 in Sacramento in early March. Should UM advance, they will remain the highest seed out of the first round and will take on No. 2 seed Idaho State in the semifinal.