Griz upset Pilots 5-2 in Portland

Friday, March 13

Portland, Ore.

Noon (MT)

Montana

Portland

Montana plays UC San Diego at PEAK Fitness Center on Monday. February. 16, 2026.

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke / University of Montana

3/13/2026 6:52:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana men's tennis team opened its two match road trip to Oregon on a high note, earning the program's first ever win over the University of Portland on Friday. The Griz won the doubles point and never looked back, taking four of the six singles matches to claim the historic 5-2 victory.

Montana entered the match at 0-11 against the Pilots dating back to 2005, earning the program's first ever-win over the powerhouse program from the traditionally strong West Coast Conference.

UM improves to 6-6 on the season with the win, returning to .500 heading into conference play. With the loss, the Pilots drop to 5-8, holding wins over both Portland State (7-0) and Montana State (6-1) on their resume.

"I'm really proud of the way the guys adjusted to sea level and slow courts, came out and played probably our best doubles of this season. We've got some new pairings that are working well, and energy was great," said head coach Jason Brown.

"In the two singles matches we did lose I thought we had really good looks at both of those for a time, and the rest guys just took care of business. It was good to see. Portland is extremely tough to beat at home and they're as well-coached as any team that we play. So, I'm happy to get out of here with a win."

The Griz opened the match with a pair of convincing doubles wins to claim the all-important opening point with a shuffled lineup.

Playing together for the first time this year, seniors Eivind Tandberg and Tom Bittner overpowered the Skobelev/Bidner pair 6-2 to get the ball rolling for UM on court two.

UM clinched the point on court one with Duncan McCall and Baltazar Wiger-Nordas pairing up to beat the Fernando/Keremedchiev duo (the defending WCC Doubles Team of the Week) 6-4, and the Griz went into singles with a 1-0 lead and momentum on their sideline.

Wiger-Nordas kept the Griz going heading into singles, taking down Tom Garcia in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, on court two, putting UM up 2-0 in short order.

The Pilots punched back, however, tying the match 2-2 with wins on courts one and three, with Bittner falling in straight sets and McCall dropping a three-set thriller to Stefan Skobelev 7-6(2), 3-6, 5-7.

Meanwhile, newcomer Joseph Townes put UM back in front with a dominant win over Gian Manhas, 6-1, 6-1, on court five to put the Griz up 3-2 and within one point of clinching the team win.

They only needed one, but the Griz then got wins in both of the remaining two matches. Freshman Matt Upton clinched the victory for UM hanging on to beat Tannor Binder on court four in a second set tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-6(3), and the Grizzlies went up for good 4-2.

"Outstanding performance for Matt Upton in the clinch. His opponent started playing really well, and it was kind of coming down to it, and if he hadn't gotten through it would have put a lot of pressure on the remaining players. He just stepped-up like an absolute veteran in the tiebreaker, took it to his opponent and finished it off for the Grizzlies. It was great," added Brown.

Johnny Wilkinson put the cherry on top for Montana on court six, taking down Eli Noel in straight sets 6-4, 6-3, and UM left the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center with a 5-2 win.

The Griz now prepare to open conference play on Sunday against the Portland State Vikings at the Tualatin Tennis Center in Beaverton, starting at 11 a.m. MT.