AUSTIN, Texas — The Montana men’s tennis team’s dream run came to a close on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA tournament as No. 3 Texas defeated the Griz 4-0 at the Texas Tennis Center.
The Big Sky champion Grizzlies end their season with a school record 19 wins at 19-7 overall after making the program’s second appearance in the national tourney. The Longhorns advance 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.
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 on court one.
The Grizzly duo didn’t get the chance to finish their match and take the upset, however, as Texas took quick wins on courts two and three to claim the doubles point.
In singles, Montana freshman Moritz Lesjak was on pace to become the first player in Big Sky Conference 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.
Despite the loss, Montana completes the year with one of the most historic seasons in program history.
The Griz won just the program’s second Big Sky tournament title to advance to the NCAA tournament under Big Sky coach of the year Jason Brown. 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 matches.
The Griz are expected to return the bulk of the roster next season, with just two seniors lost to graduation.
