PHOENIX, Ariz. — Down but not out, the Montana men’s tennis team backed itself and rallied after a loss in doubles to make some history and win the program’s first Big Sky Conference tournament championship in over a decade in Phoenix on Saturday.
The No. 3-seed Grizzlies upset No. 1-seed and regular season champion Northern Arizona 4-2 by winning four of the six singles matches in come-from-behind fashion to beat the Lumberjacks and punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament for just the second time in program history.
Duncan McCall — the Big Sky Freshman of the Year — and fellow freshman Moritz Lesjak helped Montana wrestle momentum away from NAU with a pair of singles wins after the ‘Jacks rolled in the opening doubles round to take a 1-0 lead.
But it was a pair of juniors that that sealed the championship, with Baltazar Wiger-Nordas winning in the second position in straight sets with UM down 0-2 to start Montana’s comeback. Tom Bittner then rebounded from a first set loss in a tiebreaker to beat Big Sky MVP Dani Torres in a three-set thriller to clinch the championship.
Bittner, a unanimous first team all-conference pick, was named the tournament MVP after clinching the team victory for the Griz.
The Big Sky tournament title is just the second in program history with the team making its first and only trip to the NCAA tournament in 2014 under legendary head coach Kris Nord. Montana now returns to the big dance for the first time under the 2025 Big Sky coach of the year Jason Brown, who was an assistant under Nord the last time UM won the title.
“It’s been a long time coming, long time coming. A lot of hard work from this group, and I just keep going back to the fact that they just seem to love each other so much. They’re a team. We had a senior make a sacrifice to move a freshman in at six and he put a point on the board each of the last two days. It was super important. Just a real team effort,” said Brown.
“These guys didn't waver a bit when we lost doubles. I think they believed when we flew down here this was meant to be. The schedule worked out well, we peaked at the right time, the guys played their best tennis of the year today – on a Saturday morning in Phoenix — when it counted the most. Nothing feels better as a coach than that.
“I’m just overjoyed for this team. Big Sky titles are not easy to come by, and this one's going to be really, really cherished.”
Montana now sits at 19-6 on the year and will advance to the NCAA tourney.
The win capped a revenge tour of sorts for UM, with the Grizzlies beating the only two conference teams that bested them during the regular season in Phoenix, dispatching Idaho State in the semifinal and NAU in the championship match. Montana also had to do it the hard way, playing three matches in a three-day span with a win over defending champion Sacramento State in the quarterfinal.
“We knew we had to keep working and if we got better through the course of the season, we knew this had a chance to happen. The guys kept working, kept believing and we had the squad to make this happen,” Brown added.
Montana started the match from behind with NAU taking decisive 6-3 and 6-2 wins on courts one and three to give the ‘Jacks a 1-0 lead. Soon after in singles, NAU’s Jakob Volesky took down Eivind Tandberg 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets and it looked as though the Grizzlies’ dream run was coming to a close.
After Brown lit a fire under Wiger-Nordas between rounds, the Grizzly Norwegian righted the ship for the Griz, rolling to a 6-3, 6-4, win on court two over Pitor Galus to cut the NAU lead in half 2-1.
It was then you could feel the momentum at the Phoenix Tennis Center shifting for the Griz.
“I think we just kept believing. We knew we had a good chance in every singles match, and when Balty (Wiger-Nordas) got his first set quickly that helped us. Then, the crowd and our teammates on the sideline were great and helped us get momentum. But we just kept believing and we knew we were the better team,” said Bittner.
Lesjack then bounced back from a second set loss to dominate NAU’s Mateusz Lange in the third set 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, to tie the team score 2-2, and the race was on for a title. Lesjack replaced senior Chriz Zhang at No. 6 in the UM lineup after the Sacramento State match to give the Griz some fresh legs and fresh opponent scout in the semi and final.
On court three, McCall used the momentum shift to rebound from a first set loss to beat Semen Agynskyy 5-6, 6-2, 7-5, and Montana entered the home stretch with a 3-2 advantage.
Meanwhile on court two, team captain Fernando Perez also battled back from a second set loss and was leading the third, just as Bittner made his charge in the third set, giving UM a pair of options for the clinch.
It was Bittner though who wrapped up his match first, rebounding from a devastating first set tiebreaker loss to win the second and go on break Torres’ serve late in the third set to clinch the dual with a 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-5, win over the regular season MVP as his Grizzly teammates mobbed him in celebration.
“It’s storybook stuff,” said Brown.
“His father said to me after the match, ‘When my son signed at Montana you promised he would get to be a hero for the university.’ He gave me a big hug and said, ‘Today, he is a hero.’ And I said, absolutely.”
For Bittner, who has overcome the trials and tribulations associated with rehabbing from an offseason surgery, the win marked his seventh-straight, and added to his long list of heroics for the Griz like sealing a third set tiebreaker win at Weber State for their first win in Ogden in over a decade and going undefeated in back-to-back wins over Portland State and Idaho during the regular season to take Big Sky Player of the Week honors in consecutive weeks.
But nothing beats a title.
“Best moment of my life. I’ll remember that the rest of my life,” said Bittner after the win.
“Lots of hard work and sweat and blood and tears for this moment, and it’s just awesome that all the work paid off. And I’m super excited for Jason to finally get a title too because it was a big team performance. Everyone was outstanding today.”
The Griz will find out their opponent and destination on Monday, April 28, with the selection show set for 3:30 p.m. Mountain time. The first and second rounds of the NCAA tourney are set for May 2-5, hosted by the highest seeds in the tournament.
