The University of Montana men’s tennis team closed out its regular season Sunday with a 4-3 defeat of in-state rival Montana State at UM’s Lindsay Tennis Center. With the win, the Grizzlies move to 6-2 in Big Sky competition and finish out tied for second with Northern Arizona and Weber State.

Winning only the third doubles point in eight Big Sky matches, the Grizzlies controlled the match from the beginning. The point came on a win at No. 1 by Josh Smith and Carl Kuschke, as the two defeated Alberto Fuentes and Fletcher Keyes 8-4. The No. 3 Montana team of Raydner Ramos and Timo Gehrke also contributed to the doubles victory for Montana. They defeated Myles Perkins and Esteban Ferraro 8-5.

In singles play, Montana claimed wins from Smith at No. 4,  Mike Facey at No 5. and David Cysneiros at No. 6 to clinch the match for the Grizzlies.

Smith defeated Fuentes with a commanding 6-0, 6-3 effort. Facey topped Ferraro 6-2, 6-3. Cysneiros brought home sets of 6-4 and 6-0 against Perkins.

Senior Raydner Ramos retired early in the first set due to some minor injuries.

Senior Mikolaj Borkowski and Carl Kuschke would play out their matches, though eventually fell to their Bobcat opponents.  Kuschke would drop his in a 7-10 super tiebreaker to Bobcat No. 1 Pawel Turzanski after battling back to win his second set over the tired MSU player.

Regarding his win at No. 3, which brought him to 9-6 overall, junior Josh Smith said, “I was disappointed with my performance vs. Eastern Washington on Friday. Following that, I decided that today I would work on making more balls. I really just needed to move my feet a bit more-with a sole purpose of grinding it out.

“Yesterday’s match with Northern Colorado was a big boost for me, as is the case in many of those situations against a team that is struggling. It did get me to thinking about my game today and how I wanted to play this match.

“The entire weekend was great for the team. Going into conference, we can’t afford to look too far ahead: to the final or beyond. What we are going to do is to take it day-by-day and match by match.  Sacramento State will be a challenge. Our energy in the next week will be to prepare for that specific event.”

UM coach Kris Nord said, “This weekend was absolutely great for the team. I had been concerned, with three big matches in three days. It did take its toll in the end, hurting at the end of some of the longer matches today. Still, it’s always great to end your regular season with a defeat of the Bobcats on your home court.”     

Montana will play its semifinal Big Sky Tournament match Saturday April 24 at 3:00 P.M MT in Gold River, Calif. vs. No. 1 seed Sacramento State.
 
Tennis Match Results
Montana State vs Montana
Apr 18, 2010 at Missoula, Mont.

Montana 4, Montana State 3

Singles competition:
1. TURZANSKI, Pawel (MSU) def. Carl Kuschke (UM) 6-3, 3-6, 10-7
2. KEYES, Fletcher (MSU) def. Mikolaj Borkowski (UM) 7-5, 6-4
3. SMITH, Corey (MSU) def. Raydner Ramos (UM) 5-1, retired
4. Josh Smith (UM) def. FUENTES, Alberto (MSU) 6-0, 6-3
5. Michael Facey (UM) def. FERRERO, Esteban (MSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. David Cysneiros (UM) def. PERKINS, Myles (MSU) 6-4, 6-0

Doubles competition:
1. Carl Kuschke/Josh Smith (UM) def. FUENTES, Alberto/KEYES, Fletcher (MSU) 8-4
2. TURZANSKI, Pawel/SMITH, Corey (MSU) def. David Cysneiros/Mikolaj Borkowski (UM) 8-3
3. Timo Gehrke/Raydner Ramos (UM) def. PERKINS, Myles/FERRERO, Esteban (MSU) 8-5

Match Notes:
Montana State 7-16, 3-5 BSC
Montana 9-6, 6-2 BSC