(Editor’s note: story by Montana Sports Information)
MISSOULA – When Victor Casadevall made Montana history as the first Griz to advance to the quarterfinal of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional tournament last fall, he earned a place amongst best players in the Rocky Mountain West.
After finishing his career with a second-straight trip to the Big Sky championship match, Spaniard has made more Montana history, becoming just the second Grizzly ever to end the year with an ITA Regional Ranking.
The ITA released its final regional ranking of the season on Wednesday with Casadevall coming in at No. 19 in singles, one of just three players from the Big Sky to make the list.
He now becomes the first Griz to earn a Mountain Region ranking since 2003 when Jan Steenekamp finished the year at No. 18.
Casadevall’s accomplishment caps one of the best careers in UM history, finishing with a 30-10 conference singles record over four seasons.
“This ranking is just the cherry on top of an already stellar career,” said Interim Head Coach Jason Brown. “It’s a testament to how hard he works and how he goes about doing his business the right way. He’s a class act, and we couldn’t be more proud of him.”
The ranking, loaded with players from programs like Utah, BYU, and New Mexico, recognizes the top-20 players in singles, top-10 doubles teams, and top-10 overall teams in the Western US.
Casadevall earned a place on the Big Sky’s first team all-conference list for the second time in his career following a senior season where he posted a team-high 28 wins against only 10 losses.
He earned the most regional recognition during the fall season when he advanced to the quarterfinal of the ITA tournament and finished the semester with a 16-3 record. He followed that up with a 12-7 spring singles record and put together the Big Sky’s best win percentage on court two (.778).
Northern Arizona’s Tim Handel (No. 8) and Lucas Taylor (No. 16) were the only two others from the Big Sky to make the singles ranking.
Idaho State’s Trhac/Felix pair earned the No. 1 regional spot (a pair UM was leading 4-1 when the doubles point was clinched), and Idaho’s Neto/Kovacs pair finished ranked No. 4 in the region.
In the team rankings, Idaho finished ranked No. 9 in the region. Montana defeated the Vandals 5-2 on April 12 in Missoula but fell to UI in the Big Sky tourney title match two weeks later.
Oracle/ITA Division I Rankings
Mountain Region
Administered by the ITA
June 6th, 2018
Rank School
1 Utah
2 Utah St
3 BYU
4 UNLV
5 New Mexico
6 New Mexico St
7 Denver
8 Nevada
9 Idaho
10 Northern Arizona
Rank Singles Player School
1 Alex Cozbinov UNLV
2 Daniel Little Utah
3 Ricky Hernandez-Tong New Mexico
4 Jaime Barajas Utah St
5 Christopher Goncalves New Mexico St
6 Sean Hill BYU
7 David Micevski Utah
8 Tim Handel Northern Arizona
9 Mattia Ros Denver
10 Sergiu Bucur Utah St
11 Bart Van Leijsen New Mexico
12 Matthew Summers Denver
13 Santiago Sierra Utah
14 Jeffrey Hsu BYU
15 Sam Tullis BYU
16 Lucas Taylor Northern Arizona
17 Ben Gajardo BYU
18 Julien Evrard Nevada
19 Victor Casadevall Montana
20 Egbert Weverink Utah
Rank Doubles Team School
1 Trhac / Felix Idaho State
2 Van Leijsen / Escutia New Mexico
3 Benkaim / Cory Utah
4 Neto / Kovacs Idaho
5 Rudder-Hook / Summers Denver
6 Woolley / Weverink Utah
7 Evrard / Nesterenko Nevada
8 Hill / Hsu BYU
9 Barajas / Carvajal Utah St
10 Perez / Sklenka Air Force
