Tournament results

The University of Montana men’s tennis team concluded play in the Eastern Washington/Gonzaga Invitational Sunday in Cheney.  The Montana doubles team of Mikolaj Borkowski and Carl Kuschke defeated Idaho team  of Abid Akbar/Stanislav Glukhov in the semifinals 8-6, losing in the final to Lachlan Reed and Alex Joitiou also of Idaho 8-5.

In the singles draw, four Grizzlies proceeded to the round of 16. All Grizzly individuals would fall, but not until strong sets were were won by Borkowski, who was defeated by Shin (Idaho) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; by Raydner Ramos, who was defeated by Joitou in a close match 7-6(7), 6-7(2), 6-3; and by Kuschke, who was defeated by Glukhov 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.  Grizzly Michael Facey would lose his match in the round of 16 to Tozer of Lewis and Clark 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3.

Playing in the consolation bracket, sophomore Ben DeMarois had 2 substantial wins defeating Eastern Washington players Malaquitti 1-6, 6-4, 11-9, and Kishan 4-6, 6-1, 10-7. After three wins in the consolation bracket, David Cysneiros would drop his final match, losing to Chris Rice of Portland State 6-1, 6-3 for the consolation title.

Cysneiros and Ramos also proceeded to the third round of doubles play before being defeated in a quarterfinal match by Reed and Joitiou 8-4.

Other Big Sky matchups included a three-set loss by Cysneiros to Fernando Mussolini of Eastern Washington 6-1, 4-6, 10-5 and Kuchke’s 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Kyle Erikson of Portland State.

Following the tournament, UM coach Kris Nord said, “From a coach’s perspective, we had all-in-all, a good day Saturday and a few significant performances Sunday as well, specifically with some of our doubles performances.  In the future, we will need to be able to turn some of the three-setters our way to get those wins that we believe are attainable for our guys.”

The Grizzlies have a short practice schedule this week as they prepare for the Boise Fall Classic, which begins Friday.