Bears tennis beats MSU for first time in seven years

Friday, March 29

Greeley, Colo.

11:30 AM

University of Northern Colorado

Montana State

3/29/2019 5:47:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Dylan Morey

During the 2011-12 season, current UNC men's tennis head coach Ben Gendron was competing for the Bears as a Freshman. That was the last time the UNC Bears defeated the Montana State Bobcats on the courts, until today. The Bears were able to defend their home court and come away with the first win in six years over MSU 4-3.

UNC handled their business in doubles to earn the first point on the day for the Bears. On the No. 1 court, Kyle Pease/Tommy Smalley fought in a close match with Drew Brown/Alexander Flink. Pease and Smalley were down 4-1, ultimately making a comeback and coming out on top 6-4 to clinch the doubles point.

With a 6-4 win of their own for MSU on the No. 2 court by Joaquin Espinoza/Creel Smith over Nick Wade/Julian Kenzlers, Michael Kritzinger/Adolfo Arroyo took the win 6-3 over Christian Damgaard Qvist/Grant Wood to even things up, allowing the No. 1 pairing to seal the deal.

Head Coach Ben Gendron was pleased with the team win,

"It was a great team effort. We played simple and smart tennis which put us in great positions in all the matches. Big shout-out to #1 doubles who were down 4-1 and won 6-4 to clinch the doubles point."

The Bobcats made things interesting in singles play by picking up three wins. Kyle Pease was defeated on the No. 1 court by Alexander Flink 7-5, 6-3. Julian Kenzlers dropped the No. 3 match 6-4, 6-3, as well as Alex Exsted in the No. 4 spot who went a tough three sets with his opponent, losing 6-3, 4-6, 4-6.

Adolfo Arroyo narrowly defeated Drew Brown in the first set 7-6 (1) on court No. 2, and then decided to end things quickly with a 6-1 win in the second set. Tommy Smalley won decisively in the No. 6 pairing 6-1, 6-2.

With the score tied 3-3, Nick Wade had to come out with a win in the No. 5 duel against Creel Smith to seal the monumental win for the Bears. A long fought first set saw Wade coming out on top 7-6 (5), and comfortably securing the match for UNC with a 6-2 victory in the second set.

Nick Wade had this to say after his match-winning performance,

"Great win today for the team who all stuck to their game plan and battled to come out on top. In my match it was tough to get a break of serve in the first set, but I stuck to the fundamentals which allowed me to gain confidence throughout and clinch the match."

Today's win helped UNC climb the BSC standings and improve to 6-9 (2-6). However, the Bears will now have four home non-conference matches, the next against Seward CCC on March 30th at 3 p.m.