Griz look to build momentum in Brawl of the Wild

With the No. 2 seed and a first round bye at the conference tournament locked in for next week, the Montana men's tennis team now looks to build momentum in its regular season finale on Saturday as the Griz continue their quest for back-to-back Big Sky titles

And nothing builds momentum better than a rivalry win.

This week, Montana heads to Bozeman for the annual Brawl of the Wild match against Montana State with nothing but bragging rights on the line for either team.

At 12-7 overall and 5-1 in Big Sky play, the Griz have wrapped up the No. 2 seed at the conference tourney, riding a streak of two straight wins after dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker to Northern Arizona the previous week that cost them a shot at the regular season title.

The Cats, meanwhile, enter the match at 7-11 this season and 3-3 in league play with momentum of their own, coming of home wins over Sac State and Weber State, with a similar 4-3 loss to the Lumberjacks on their record. MSU will also be looking to build momentum in the rivalry match having booked its ticket to Phoenix for the conference championship, currently sitting fourth on the league table.

Montana has dominated the Griz/Cat rivalry in recent years with a 12-4 record against MSU since 2011, but the Bobcat Anderson Tennis Center has proven to be a house of horrors for the Griz in recent years with the Cats taking the last two duals in Bozeman, dating back to 2022.

"As they should, they always make it real hostile on their rivals. It's never an easy time winning in Bozeman. Never has been, and we're expecting nothing less. So, we're going to go get after it and continue to try and improve before the tournament," said head coach Jason Brown.

"One of the goals we had for the season was to get a one or a two seed. It makes it much easier for us to defend our title. We also left a lot of goals on the table, but I think we can erase anything we didn't achieve – whether it's a regular season title, a national ranking, or an undefeated home record – we can erase those with a win over the Bobcats and a conference title in Phoenix."

Opening serves from Bozeman go up at 1 p.m.

COVERAGE: Links to live scoring of the Brawl of the Wild match can be found on UM's team schedule page at GoGriz.com/MTEN.

LAST MEETING: Montana mounted a stunning comeback in doubles to break the proverbial backs of the Bobcats, leading to a dominant 7-0 sweep in Missoula to cap the regular season last year.

After splitting courts one and three in the doubles round, Tom Bittner and Eivind Tandberg won five straight points in a tiebreaker and Bittner smashed the winning ace to secure a thrilling, come-from-behind, 7-6 (4) victory on court two that gave the Griz the important 1-0 lead.

With that the momentum in-hand, Montana then tallied straight set wins on all six singles courts to complete the 7-0 sweep in front of a boisterous crowd at the Peak, finishing the season at 16-6 and taking momentum into the Big Sky tournament where they would claim the team's first championship in over a decade.

LAST TIME IN BOZEMAN: In 2024, Montana dropped a back-and-forth brawl in Bozeman, building an early lead but seeing the Bobcats win the four singles matches at the bottom of the lineup to beat the Griz 4-3 in a heartbreaker.

Tied 3-3 late in the dual, UM's Chris Zhang battled through not one, but two tiebreakers, fending-off seven match points in a marathon second set but eventually falling in the deciding set as the Bobcats edged out the five-plus hour, come-from-behind win.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Duncan McCall played up a spot and didn't miss a beat last weekend, going undefeated in singles to lead UM to a pair of big wins over Idaho State and Sacramento State in Missoula to win the first Big Sky Player of the Week honors of his career, the league announced Wednesday.

McCall, who usually plays at line three singles, bumped up to the second court against ISU 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. That 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.

He 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.

BITTNER'S BACK: The resurgence of Grizzly No. 1 Tom Bittner is perfect timing for Montana with the senior ace heading to Bozeman riding a four match wins streak, finding the form that led him to tournament MVP honors a year ago after recovering from injury. He's now back in the mix for regular season MVP honors as the conference wraps up play at 4-2 in the Big Sky, tied for the most of any line one player in the league.

DOUBLES DOMINANCE: Montana will need a strong start in Bozeman to get past the Bobcats on their home turf, so It's a good thing the Griz have been playing exceptional doubles to date this season. UM heads east having won seven of their last eight doubles points, and by no small coincidence has won nine of their last eight duals.

McCall and his doubles partner Baltazar Wiger-Nordas are 7-1 as a pair (4-1 BSC) and have been leading the charge for UM on court one as a pair, with both earning postseason doubles honors last year. The underclassman duo of Matt Upton (a freshman) and Johnny Wilkinson (a sophomore) has also been a consistent winner for the Griz at 5-0 overall and 4-0 in league play on court three.

UP NEXT: Montana heads to the desert as the No. 2 seed at the Big Sky tournament at the Phoenix Tennis Center April 23-25. The Griz will get a first round bye as the second seed and will face the highest remaining seed from the first round on Thursday, April 24.

If the tournament were to start today, NAU would earn the No. 1 seed, with UM at No. 2, Idaho State at No. 3, MSU at No. 4, Idaho at No. 5, and Sac State at No. 6.

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Players Mentioned

Tom Bittner

Duncan McCall

Eivind Tandberg

Matt Upton

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

Johnny Wilkinson

Chris Zhang

University of Montana Athletics