McCall named Big Sky Player of the Week

Grizzly sophomore Duncan McCall played up a spot and didn't miss a beat this weekend, going undefeated in singles to lead the Montana men's tennis team to a pair of big wins over Idaho State and Sacramento State at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula.

The impressive individual performance has led the New Zealand native to the first Big Sky Player of the Week honors of his career, the league announced Wednesday. He shared the weekly award with Idaho No. 1 Chetanna Amadike.

McCall, who usually plays at line three singles, bumped up to the second court against ISU on Friday and did nothing but keep winning, taking down Sep de Visser in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, who came to Missoula as a two-time player of the week this season. McCall's win proved to be the clincher in Montana's 5-2 victory over the Bengals, and was the fourth-straight for the Griz after dropping the doubles point to start the match.

Against Sac State on Sunday, McCall swept both the singles and doubles rounds in helping the Griz to a 7-0 shut out of the Hornets. He partnered with Baltazar Wiger-Nordas to win the first doubles match 6-0 on court one and followed that up with a near shutout line three singles win over David Dai 6-1, 6-2.

McCall has now won six of his last seven singles matches and is UM's winningest player this season at 12-5 overall, 5-1 in league play, 11-4 overall in doubles and 4-1 in conference doubles. He's Montana's second Player of the Week this season after Wiger-Nordas earned the honor in mid March.

"He stepped up in the two slot and took down a multiple time player of the week who'd been red hot for Idaho State, so huge win there," said head coach Jason Brown.

"But overall, just another gritty performance from Duncan this weekend. He keeps finding ways to get it done. For me, that's what college tennis is all about, and he personifies it."

Grit has been a calling card of McCall's since his arrival at UM last fall, when he played a key part on Montana's Big Sky Championship squad as a freshman with an 18-6 record. That record earned him the Big Sky Freshman of the Year award, plus second team all-conference singles honors and an honorable mention in doubles.

It's a trait that's rubbing off on his teammates as well.

"He lives to compete, and he loves doing it in a team setting. He's as tough as they come on a tennis court," said Matt Upton, who himself is in the running for Big Sky Freshman of the Year this season.

McCall, Upton, and the rest of the Grizzlies travel to Bozeman on Saturday for the annual Brawl of the Wild match against Montana State at 1 p.m. At 12-7 overall and 5-1 in league play, the Griz have locked up the No. 2 seed and a first round bye at this year's Big Sky Championship Tournament in Phoenix where they will look to repeat as champions and punch their ticket to the NCAA tourney for the second year in a row.

University of Montana Athletics

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Duncan McCall

Matt Upton

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

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