Griz earn team, singles, and doubles Mountain Region rankings

For the second straight year the Montana men's tennis team has cleaned up in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's end-of-year regional rankings, with the Grizzlies landed among the top teams, and three individuals ranked among the top singles players and doubles pairings in the Rocky Mountain West, the ITA announced this week.

The Big Sky runner-up Griz came in at No. 9 in the ITA Mountain Region team rankings after falling just short of back-to-back conference titles. It marks Montana's fourth appearance in the Mountain Region top 10 in the past six years – No. 7 in 2025 (a program record), No. 8 in 2024 and No. 9 in 2022 – underscoring the program's rise as a mid-major power in the Western U.S.

The ITA Mountain Region covers expansive territory from Montana to New Mexico and includes perennially strong programs such as this year's Mountain West champion Utah State, Denver and UNLV.

"We've been pushing things forward the last few years, and overall, as a body of work, these rankings make you feel good about the state of Griz tennis," said head coach Jason Brown.

"Expectations can be the thief of joy sometimes, and we've had a few disappointing outcomes. But all in all, we wrapped up some fabulous careers this year, did a lot of great things and have a lot of momentum heading into next season. I love that we're perennially in these regional rankings over the last half-dozen years, and I'm excited to build on the standard that has been set."

Tom Bittner, the Big Sky Regular Season MVP and a three-time unanimous first-team all-conference selection, capped one of the finest careers in program history by finishing as the No. 11 singles player in the Mountain Region – the highest ranking of any Big Sky player.

Bittner, who became just the second men's tennis player to ever win the prestigious Grizzly Cup for the top overall male athlete at UM in April on top of becoming a three-time recipient of UM's President's Award for the top overall GPA, has now earned a regional ranking for a third-straight year.

He capped last year's championship season as the No. 9 player in the region (the highest individual ranking ever for UM) as a junior and was ranked No. 10 as a sophomore. Bittner finished his career at Montana with a 45-24 overall dual singles record, a 20-10 record in Big Sky play, and a remarkable 20-3 record at home.

For the second straight year, the Grizzlies also placed a doubles pair in the Mountain Region's top 10. Senior Baltazar Wiger-Nordas and sophomore Duncan McCall built the most dominant doubles unit in the Big Sky, helping Montana win nine of its last 10 opening points. The No. 1 pair went 8-2 overall and 5-1 in conference play and finished as the top-ranked doubles team from the Big Sky at No. 7.
Wiger-Nordas closed his Grizzly career with a second straight regional doubles ranking after finishing No. 10 in 2025.

McCall, who was named the 2025 Big Sky Freshman of the Year, has been chosen as next year's team captain. He was Montana's winningest player in 2026, going 13-5 in singles and 12-5 in doubles.

He will be joined in leading the program by rising sophomore Matt Upton, who posted the team's second-best singles record in his first season and earned second-team all-conference honors in both singles and doubles.

ITA Mountain Region Top 10 Team Rankings
1: Utah State
2: Boise State
3: Denver
4: UNLV
5: BYU
6: Northern Arizona
7: Utah
8: Air Force
9: Montana
10: Nevada

ITA Mountain Region Top 20 Singles Rankings
1: Ilia Snitari, UNLV
2: Jean-Baptiste Badon, Utah State
3: Xavier Calvelo, Utah State
4: Marko Maksimovic, UNLV
5: Raffaello Papajcik, Denver
6: Avery Tallakson, Boise State
7: Stewart Aronson, Boise State
8: Tygen Goldammer, BYU
9: Samue Lrovai, Denver
10: Dante Carlos Teramo, Utah
11: Tom Bittner, Montana
12: Theo Coats, Denver
13: Dario Ciobotaru, New Mexico
14: Jakub Jedrzejczak, Northern Arizona
15: Emmett Potter, Utah
16: Valentino De Pellegrin, Idaho State
17: Adam Chodur, BYU
18: Chetanna Amadike, Idaho
19: Axel Huysmans, Nevada
20: Aj Moore, Air Force

ITA Mountain Region Top 10 Doubles Rankings
1: Ilia Snitari / Kemal Arda Karakas, UNLV
2: Jakub Medved / Xavier Calvelo, Utah State
3: Marko Maksimovic / Illia Maksymchuk, UNLV
4: Connor Robb-Wilcox / Theo Coats, Denver
5: Jean-Baptiste Badon / Dmitri Goubin, Utah State
6: Avery Tallakson / Carson Baker, Boise State
7: Baltazar Wiger-Nordas / Duncan McCall, Montana
8: Vincent Vohl / Takumi Katsuda, Northern Arizona
9: Adam Chodur / Otto Schreiner, BYU
10: Balthazar Huss / Dante Carlos Teramo, Utah

University of Montana Athletics

Griz earn team, singles, and doubles Mountain Region rankings

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Players Mentioned

Tom Bittner

Duncan McCall

Matt Upton

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

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