Griz Tennis adds Townes and Upton to 2025-26 roster

The Big Sky Champion Montana men's tennis team has added more championship pedigree to the roster with a pair of new signees ahead of the 2025-226 season, announced the ITA Mountain Region Coach of the Year Jason Brown.

Joseph Townes, a transfer from the reining Southland Conference champion New Orleans Privateers, comes to Missoula as a rising junior with two seasons left to play for the Grizzlies. Joining Townes is incoming freshman Matthew Upton, at one point ranked No. 320 in the ITF World Junior rankings and the No. 17-ranked U-18 player in the United Kingdom.

"I'm really excited about getting these guys to Missoula. I think they're both pieces of the puzzle that will allow us to continue to be successful," said Brown.

"I think they'll provide some fresh blood in a couple different spots, and I like the idea they'll be joining a really established and veteran team. They're going to learn from a lot of guys who are winners, and that feels really good to me heading into the fall."

Townes, a native of East London, South Africa, is a three-time national tennis team representative in his home country. A multi-sport athlete he represented South Africa at the national level in field hockey, squash, badminton and cricket. He won six ITF junior titles before heading to New Orleans.

In his first two years in "The Big Easy" Townes he went 15-14 in singles and 17-13 in doubles combined. The bulk of those wins came during UNO's championship season in 2025 where he went 10-7 in singles and 14-6 in doubles as a sophomore, including posting a 5-2 record on court three singles. Those marks earned him a place on the All-Southland doubles second team and a first-team All-Southland tournament singles team.

In the classroom he earned Dean's List honors at UNO and is coming to Montana to study finance at the UM College of Business.

"Joseph is an absolute glue guy. He's a really good doubles player especially from a successful program that just won a conference championship, and I think he'll slide right in and contribute immediately. He also helps balance out our classes as well. He's a junior and has two more years with us and I just want to make sure he wraps up his college tennis career with some success and in a spot where he thinks he can really improve and get better," said Brown.

Townes describes himself as a fiery competitor who can dictate a match with his forehand and get to the net, and says it was Montan's culture of success that drew him to UM.

"I really enjoyed my conversations with Coach Jason and Montana was exactly what I was looking for in terms of coaching, facilities, the surrounding area. Overall, it's exactly what I wanted as a player and a person and that's what led me to Montana," Townes said.

"I also like being a good teammate as well, cheering on my team and always bringing the energy is what I love doing."

Upton comes to Montana from Truro, England, but has spent the last two years living and training full time under Yannick Faque at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in the south of France.

In 2024 he won a singles title an ITF J30 tournament in Cyprus and two doubles titles at ITF events in Belgium and the UK. He also finished as a singles runner-up in four other ITF events around Europe over the past two years. He's also finished as a quarterfinalist in UK Junior National Championships at the U-16 level and won the Welsh Open LTA U-18 singles title in 2023.

Locally, he's competed for his men's club team in Cornwall, is a is a two-time Cornwall County champion, and was voted the team's U18 MVP at the County Cup in 2023.

He was ranked as high as No. 320 in the ITF World Junior Rankings, was the No. 4 U-16 player in the UK as well as the No. 17 U-18 player in the UK. He also earned a men's ranking at No. 129 in the UK and carries an 11.76 singles UTR and a 11.51 UTR in doubles.

"I've been really excited about Matt from the get-go. He's got a real passion for tennis and is a really talented player. He checks all the boxes of a guy we want at Montana as far as academics and ability. He really seems to love tennis and that's what we're looking for. He's been training at an academy in France, and he's fully committed to the sport," said Brown.

Upton also says it was the rapport he built with Brown during the recruiting process that helped make his decision to come to Montana an easy one.

"I had a really good relationship with Jason, and I felt he has the program in a really good position. The team has a really good connection with the school as well and puts a focus on the schoolwork as well as tennis," said Upton.

"I'm definitely looking forward to getting out to Missoula and am excited to get to work."

Upton plans on studying exercise science during his time at Montana with an eye towards a professional tennis career and later a career in tennis coaching.

Both Upton and Townes are set to arrive at UM at the start of the fall semester in late August and will immediately begin coopeting during the fall tournament season.

University of Montana Athletics

Griz Tennis adds Townes and Upton to 2025-26 roster

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