The Montana men's tennis team picked up three nonconference dual meet wins this past weekend in eastern Washington.
The Grizzlies beat NCAA Division III Whitworth twice in Spokane on Saturday and topped Eastern Washington in Cheney on Sunday. The score in all three dual meets was 7-0 as Montana improved to 3-1. Whitworth and EWU both fell to 0-2.
In the opening dual of the weekend versus Whitworth, UM cruised to the doubles point, winning 6-2, 6-1 and 6-2. The round was highlighted by the first all-Watkins pairing in a college dual match, with junior Josh Watkins and his freshman brother Jake Watkins of Whitefish teaming up for a 6-2 win at No. 3 that clinched the point for UM.
In singles, the Griz took straight-set victories on all but one court.
Sophomore Sam Baldwin got a clean win in his debut at No. 1, beating Ethan Warring, 6-1, 6-2. Defending Big Sky player of the week Guillermo Martin stayed undefeated, winning his only singles match of the weekend, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 2.
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Freshmen Baltazar Wiger-Nordas and George Russell each got wins on courts three and four to clinch the team victory for the Griz, while each of the Watkins brothers won on courts five and six to complete the 7-0 shutout.
In the second dual of the afternoon versus Whitworth, Montana once again swept the doubles and singles rounds.
Freshman Tom Bittner returned to action for the Griz after missing the first week with an illness, making his college dual debut on singles court one and battling to a three-set win over Nathan Tjelle, 6-1, 5-7, 6-0.
The rest of the UM lineup barely skipped a beat, with no one losing more than two games in a set and the Griz blanking their opponents 6-0 in five of the 15 total sets to lead to another 7-0 team shutout.
Montana kept the momentum rolling into Cheney Sunday morning in a non-league dual against a Big Sky foe. Â
Moritz Stoeger and Martin reunited on court two doubles, a place where they earned all-conference honors two years ago as freshmen before Martin's sophomore year injury. The duo looked like they were never apart either, shutting out EWU's Dillon/Pax pair 6-0 on court two.
Gustav Theilgaard and Russell clinched the opening point on court one, 6-4 over Caden Kammerer and Erik Sarlvik.
Stoeger picked up his fourth overall win of the weekend to open the singles round, beating Tyler Dalos in a second-set tiebreaker 6-2, 7-6 (3) to put the Griz up 2-0 in the team tally.
Baldwin and Theilgaard then clinched the victory for UM with wins on courts three and one, respectively, with Baldwin beating Kammerer, 6-2, 6-4, and Theilgaard beating Paz in straight sets as well, 7-6, 6-1.
Bittner, Russell and sophomore Fernando Perez cleaned up with straight-set wins on courts two, six and five, respectively, to give UM its third-straight shutout.