Montana State University announced on April 22 that its men’s tennis team will begin play in the Big Sky Conference Men’s Tennis Tournament on Thursday, facing Idaho at 9 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time in Phoenix.
Both Montana State and Idaho enter the postseason with identical 3-4 records in league play, tying for fourth place. Montana State holds the fourth seed after defeating Idaho during the regular season. The Bobcats finished their overall season with a record of 7-12.
The previous meeting between the teams took place on March 21, when Montana State secured a narrow 4-3 victory over Idaho in Moscow. In that match, Idaho initially won the doubles point and No. 1 singles to take a two-point lead before Montana State rallied back with wins from Andre Stewart at No. 2 singles and Oumar Diallo at No. 3 singles to tie the score. After another win by Idaho at No. 4 singles, Eddie Biss claimed victory at No. 5 for Montana State, and Max Calaquian clinched the overall win with his performance at No. 6.
“This will be a fun match,” said Mateus Ceolin, second-year head coach of the Bobcats men’s tennis team. “We are focused on the one match we have in front of us, and that’s the only match that is guaranteed. Our goal is to give everything we have in that one match and see what happens from there.” Ceolin also said: “Idaho is a great, well-coached team. They have a lot of experience. We will have to compete extremely well if we want to extend our season.”
Live statistics for Thursday’s matchup will be available online.
