The University of Montana men’s tennis squad hosts three vital home matches Friday through Sunday in Missoula at the Lindsay Tennis Center on the UM campus.  In order to claim the final, fourth seed in the Big Sky tournament, the Grizzlies will need a win over Big Sky No. 5 Eastern Washington Friday, and then must defeat either No. 9 Northern Colorado Saturday or No. 7 Montana State Sunday.

Montana currently holds fourth-place standing in Big Sky conference play at 3-2 with wins over No. 2 Northern Arizona (6-2 BSC),  No. 6  Portland State (3-4), and No. 8 Idaho State (1-5). The Grizzlies share two losses with Northern Arizona and Weber State (6-2), having dropped matches with No. 1 Sacramento State and No. 3 Weber State.

Friday’s noon matchup with Eastern Washington will serve the greatest challenge of the weekend for the Grizzlies. The Eagles are 7-12 overall and 3-3 in Big Sky play. EWU claimed a 5-2 win over the Grizzlies in the two teams’ 2009 matchup. 

Notable on Montana’s radar, the Eagles defeated Weber State 5-2 April 9, just four days after the Grizzlies fell to the Wildcats 4-3. The Grizzlies cannot lose to the Eagles, though can drop matches to either MSU or Northern Colorado, teams which possess four and six conference losses, respectively. If the Grizzlies can win all three conference matches this weekend, they will still enter the conference tournament as the four seed.

The only scenario that will change the qualifying situation for the Grizzlies, would be for Montana State to defeat the Eagles in its Saturday match, following an EWU win over Montana Friday. In that case, the Grizzlies would have an acceptable loss to EWU, but would face a must-win vs. Montana State.

Montana recently defeated UC Davis in a 4-3, come-from-behind win. That same Davis squad defeated EWU 6-1 just a few days before.

The Grizzlies face Northern Colorado Saturday at 10:00 a.m. The Bears are 1-13 overall and have won none of their Big Sky matchups.

Sunday at 11:00 a.m, Montana will have an important rematch with its in-state rival, Montana State. The Bobcats topped the Grizzlies 4-3 in a March 7, non-conference match. The Grizzlies will be looking to gain retribution against their rivals in a match that marks the end of the Montana regular season as well as the final home match of the season.

Sacramento State will hold the No.1 seed in this year’s Big Sky Championship, having defeated Portland State April 9 to achieve a 7-1 in conference record. The Hornets only league loss was at Northern Arizona 6-1 in mid-January.   

The Grizzlies enter the final weekend of the regular season with a 4-11 record at doubles in Big Sky play. UM coach Kris Nord will hope to get his doubles matchups right for the final weekend.

Junior David Cysneiros, who returned to play with fall doubles partner Raydner Ramos in last week’s match with Idaho State, said, “Doubles will be the primary focus for us at practice leading up to our home matches.” Ramos and Cysneiros have gone 3-3 together thus far this spring.

On the singles side, the Grizzlies have gone 15-15 at singles in the Big Sky, pulling off several 4-3 team wins that were bolstered by four singles victories.

Current Grizzly leaders include two-time Big Sky Player of the Week, Carl Kuschke, who is 7-5, playing primarily at the No. 1 position. Kuschke is joined at 7-5 by Josh Smith, who has played mostly at No. 4 and has won three consecutive matches at that spot. The two combined for an 8-6 win at doubles last week vs. Idaho State and are likely to play together again this weekend.

Freshman Mike Facey also sits at 7-5 in singles play, having clinched two 4-3 wins for the Grizzlies.
 
Before team practice Wednesday, senior Mikolaj Borkowski said, “I am excited to play home matches. It has been over two years since we were able to play on our own courts. I think that it will be an advantage for our team, whether we play here or in Hamilton, if there is rain.

“To be on your own surface, playing on your own campus is really nice. We should also get some people out to watch the matches, which will make the team more excited to play as well.

“It’s been a tough week for us with the weather. It is important that we play outdoors to prepare for this weekend.  So far we have done some good things on the indoor surface. It’s sunny outside right now, so I guess that we will be working on doubles again today.”

Big Sky Standing and Schedules:
7-1  --  Sacramento State (done)
6-2  --  Northern Arizona (done)
6-2  --  Weber State (done)
3-2  --  Montana (EWU Friday, UNC Saturday, MSU Sunday)
3-4  --  Portland State  (vs. ISU Saturday)
3-3  --  Eastern Washington (at UM Friday, at MSU Saturday)
1-4  --  Montana State (UNC Friday, EWU Saturday, at UM Sunday)
1-6  --  Idaho State (at PSU Saturday)
0-6  --  Northern Colorado (at MSU Friday, at UM Saturday)