Big Sky Player of the Week twice as nice for Tom Bittner

Montana men's tennis No. 1 Tom Bittner made it back-to-back Big Sky Player of the Week awards on Wednesday after leading the Griz to a pair of key conference wins over the weekend.

The junior went undefeated in both singles and doubles in UM's two wins over Portland State on Saturday and Idaho on Sunday for a 4-0 combined record to earn his second-consecutive weekly honor from the league.

The award comes exactly seven days after he was named Player of the Week for the first time this season following a win in a dramatic third set tiebreaker that clinched the Grizzlies' first team victory at Weber State in over a decade.

This is now Bittner's second weekly honor from the league this season and the third of his career. It's also the third for the Griz this season after Baltazar Wiger-Nordas won for clinching a Grizzly 5-2 win at Air Force in early February. Bittner is also the first Grizzly to win a pair of weekly honors in a season since Fernando Perez repeated in 2024.

He is now 9-5 in singles on the season and 3-2 in Big Sky play with three straight singles wins as he continues to recover from offseason surgery that has kept him from playing in the fall.

The 2024 team co-MVP is coming off a sophomore campaign that has already made him one of the most decorated players in program history as a unanimous first-team all-conference pick and the No. 10 rated player in the Mountain Region. Not to mention a UM President's Award for earning the best overall GPA in Grizzly Athletics while taking classes in his second language.

"Tom has done his job exceedingly well over the last couple of weeks, and I'm really happy he's getting recognized for his efforts. It feels like he's hitting his stride again, and I think when he's at his best, he's the best player in the conference. So, I'm excited for him to get to show that off in April," said head coach Jason Brown.

"He also knows this is a team award. I spoke to Tom about this and the first thing he did was give credit to the team. He knows they've got to win as well for a guy to get this award, so I'm excited for the whole team."

Last weekend against Portland State Bittner partnered with Eivind Tandberg to clinch the doubles point for UM, beating the Vikings' Cravanzola/Prino pair 7-5 on court three. He then made quick work of Portland State No. 1 Luca Prino 6-3, 6-1, in the first singles match of the day to finish as the Griz went on to sweep PSU 7-0.

Against Idaho, he and Tandberg bumped up a court to line two and won again, beating the Vandals' Amadike/Medica pair 6-1 to clinch the doubles round for UM. In line one singles he bounced back to win a three-set match over UI senior and four-time All-Big Sky honoree Francisco Gay 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Bittner and the Griz (14-5, 4-1 BSC) return to the road for the final time in the regular season this week, traveling south on I-15 to Pocatello for a one-off conference dual against Idaho State on Friday. The Griz then return home for the final two duals of the year, hosting Eastern Washington on April 12 and Montana State on April 19 at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula.

Montana enters the final stretch of the regular season sitting firmly in second place in the Big Sky standings after falling at first place Northern Arizona and beating third place Idaho. While the Griz will need some help to capture a regular season title, a top two finish in the standings would secure them a crucial first-round bye at the league's championship tournament in Phoenix at the end of April.

University of Montana Athletics

Big Sky Player of the Week twice as nice for Tom Bittner

Players Mentioned

Tom Bittner

Fernando Perez

Eivind Tandberg

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

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