Montana men's tennis blanked by Texas in NCAA tournament

The Big Sky Conference champion Grizzlies ended their season with a school record 19 wins (19-7) after making the program’s second appearance in the national tourney. The Longhorns advanced to the round of 32 and will face Cornell on Sunday to see who advances to the round of 16.

Montana had the chance to take small victories in the match but was generally overpowered by the third-ranked Longhorns, who entered the tournament led by the No. 1 player in the nation and the best overall UTR in the nation.

Montana team captain Fernando Perez and his doubles partner Baltazar Wiger-Nordas were tied 15-15 at five-all in the No. 1 doubles match and were two games away from winning the set over UT’s No. 10-ranked Legout/Brown pair at No. 1.

The Grizzly duo didn’t get the chance to finish their match and take the upset, however, as Texas took quick wins at Nos. 2 and 3 to claim the doubles point.

In singles, Montana freshman Moritz Lesjak was on pace to become the first player in Big Sky history to win a match in the NCAA tournament when he also ran out of time for an upset.

Lesjak beat Evan Burnett 6-2 in the first set and was up 3-1 in the second when Texas finished its third win in singles to clinch the overall dual 4-0.

The Griz won just the program’s second Big Sky tournament title to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Montana finished the season strong, earning three wins at the Big Sky tourney to advance to nationals and capping the year with five wins in their last six dual meets. 

The Griz are expected to return the bulk of the roster next season, with just two seniors lost to graduation.