Montana State was good in the beginning, good at the end, and good enough in between to earn a 4-3 men’s tennis victory at Seattle late Friday night.
The match marked MSU’s return to action for the first time in five weeks and kicked off an intense weekend of action up in the Great Northwest section of Interstate 5. The Bobcats captured the doubles point with wins by Nejc Sitar and Marcos Zelver, and Manel Monteiro and Daan Van Dijk.
Seattle evened the match score at 1-1 when Eli Ogilvy topped Sitar at No. 1 singles (6-3, 6-2), but Brad Buckland got the Cats back in the win column with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Emilio Monroy. Joaquin Espinoza dropped his match at No. 2 singles, but Chase Stoner’s 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win coupled with Van Dijk’s 1-6, 6-2, 2-6 loss brought the match to a final deciding contest.
Freshman Manuel Monteiro earned an epic three-set victory to hand Montana State the victory. Monteiro defeated Lance Schmassman 6-7 (7-9), 7-5, 6-4, helping the Bobcats raise their record to 3-0 in duals on the season.
Montana State plays a conference contest against Portland State on Saturday before completing the weekend with a Sunday match against Portland.
#GoCatsGo