Griz hold strong as Lesjak clinches 4-3 win over Vandals

Friday, March 20

Moscow, Idaho

1 p.m.

Montana

Idaho

Griz hold strong as Lesjak clinches 4-3 win over Vandals

3/20/2026 7:58:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Road wins in Big Sky Conference tennis are always hard to come by, But Montana picked up one of the hardest in the league on Friday when the Griz went into the Kibbie Dome at Idaho and held on for a thrilling 4-3 win in a dual that came down to a third set on the final court standing.

The Grizzlies stormed out to an early lead with a quick win in doubles and a pair of straight-set singles wins to take a 3-0 lead in the early going. The Vandals punched back, however, staying with it to win three-straight singles matches and tie the dual 3-3.

With the team result hanging in the balance on court six, UM sophomore Moritz Lesjak rebounded from a first set loss to play the hero for Montana, clinching the victory in a third-set comeback to give UM a 4-3 win.

"We talk about how every time we're on the road, it doesn't matter how good you are, or what the other team looks like, they all put up a fight. The home court advantage is massive inside the Kibbie Dome. Hats off to Idaho for going down 3-0 pretty quickly and then not giving up. They turned it into a war like we predicted it would be," said head coach Jason Brown.

"Idaho is playing as good a ball as anybody in the Big Sky, so we're pretty happy to get that win."

The Griz now improve to 8-6 overall and 2-0 in Big Sky play as they now prepare to play four of their last five league matches in the friendly confines of the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula. The Vandals fall to 8-11 on the season and 2-1 in Big Sky play after the Griz handed them just their third loss of the year inside the Kibbie Dome.

Mo you BEAUTY! 👏

Moritz Lesjak clinches a HUGE 4-3 victory for the Griz over Idaho after losing his first set! 🔥#GoGriz x #GrizMTEN pic.twitter.com/w1xKafk78y
— Montana Griz Men's Tennis 🎾 (@MontanaGrizMTEN) March 21, 2026

Montana started the match with its third-straight doubles point in the last two weeks with wins on courts one and three to take a 1-0 team lead. Matthew Upton and Johnny Wilkinson breezed past the Janson/Wang pair 6-1 on court three while Duncan McCall and Baltazar Wiger-Nordas took down the Lis/Paradis pair 6-3 on court one and the Griz were off and running.

"Just another stellar doubles win for the Grizzlies. The new pairings we put together have really been working out well," added Brown.

Wiger-Nordas kept the pedal down in singles with his third-straight win on court two. The defending Big Sky co-Player of the Week took down Paul Janson in straight sets, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3, win to put the Griz up 2-0 overall.

McCall kept the UM momentum going on court three, rolling over Mikolaj Lis in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, and it looked as if the Griz had the team win in the bag.

The momentum shifted after that, however, when Idaho began a ferocious comeback on court four. Upton hung with Gabriel Moroder in the first set, but suffered an injury and was shut-out in the second as the Vandal sophomore took a 7-5, 6-0 win to make it a 3-1 overall score.

Idaho closed the gap even further on court one where Chetanna Amadike, the other co-Player of the Week with Wiger-Nordas, battled past Tom Bittner in straight sets, beating the Grizzly senior 7-5, 6-4, and all of a sudden, the pressure was on for Montana with a 3-2 lead.

The lead continued to dwindle on court five where Eric Wang sped past UM's Johnny Wilkinson 6-0 in the first set and kept up the pace with a 6-1 win in the second to tie the overall score 3-3, leaving the outcome resting on court six with Lesjak.

The sophomore from Veinna was back and forth with Xavier Martin Roca in the first set, down 4-5 with serve and a chance to tie, but unforced errors and some well-placed returns from Roca led to the 6-4 set win and Idaho inched closer to the win.

But Lesjak found his stride in the second, however, playing patient tennis and strong defense to make Roca work for each point. The Grizzly went up 2-1 after holding serve then taking advantage of errors from Roca, including a double fault on game point to give the Grizzly his first lead.

He then fell down 40-0 in the next game, but came back to tie it at deuce point, but again Roca had an answer and dropped a lob on the baseline to break Lesjak's serve and make it 2-2 in the second set.

The Grizzly retook the lead in the next game when he ripped a cross-court forehand down the sideline at deuce point to win the game and break Roca's serve, taking a 3-2 lead. From there he held serve to take a 4-2 lead in the second set as the tide turned inside the Kibbie Dome and Lesjak held on to win the set 6-3 and force a third and deciding set.

He opened the third set with a crafty drop shot that set up a rifle of a forehand past Roca at the net on the return and Lesjak went up 2-0. He continued to work Roca's right side and later took a 4-1 over the Vandal, forcing him into more errors, and eventually serving out the win 6-2 in the third set to clinch the 4-3 victory for the Griz and get the customary mob from his teammates.

"Moritz is really good at tennis. He just didn't quite find his level in the first set, but once he did, we were pretty confident that match would take care of itself. He let the first set slip, but was rock solid from then on," added Brown.

"He turned into the Austrian wall and forced the other guy to bring some offense. Moritz is long and rangy and he was a dog out there today and refused to lose."

Montana prepares to cap the trip to the Palouse on Saturday with the final nonconference dual of the season at Lewis-Clark State. The Griz then return to start the month of April with four-straight conference matches in Missoula.