Saturday, February 20
11 am
Montana State University
vs
Montana
Harry James and the Bobcats host Montana Saturday
Bobcats Host Grizzlies in Non-League Tennis Match Saturday
2/19/2016 3:39:00 PM | Men's Tennis
MSU looks to stay on winning track
Montana State takes a break from Big Sky competition Saturday, hosting its closest league rival in a non-conference contest when Montana visits the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center for an 11 am match.
The Bobcats collected their first win of the season last time out, topping Idaho State 4-3 in a league contest in Pocatello. Third-year coach Jared Burnham said the reason for the team's struggles are easy to pinpoint.
"We're young and we're still trying to find ourselves a little," he said. "This year might be one of those years where I'm monkeying with the lineup quite a bit. It will be a Tetris game for a while. We're young enough that it might be like that all year."
The Cats played four matches in the first 13 days of February, winning against ISU but dropping contests to preseason Big Sky favorite Weber State as well as regional powers Utah and Utah State. In spite of the team struggles the Cats showed signs of improvement each time out. Harry James, MSU's only senior, teamed with freshman Alex Flink to form a doubles team that has won three straight, and James has a pair of singles wins.
Burnham said the last week provided time to focus on fine-tuning in practice. He said that remains important in this weekend's non-league tilt and the time off that follow. "We've been working on certain things individually," he said. "We're competing well for the most part. We're young, so there are some pretty basic things we need to accomplish."
Montana's only spring match was a 7-0 loss at Utah, but the Grizzlies posses a strong returning class. Seniors Semion Branzburg and Tomasz Soltyka form a strong duo at the top of the UM lineup.
After Saturday's contest the Bobcats play at Sacramento State on February 27, then host Idaho and North Datkoa on March 12.
The Bobcats collected their first win of the season last time out, topping Idaho State 4-3 in a league contest in Pocatello. Third-year coach Jared Burnham said the reason for the team's struggles are easy to pinpoint.
"We're young and we're still trying to find ourselves a little," he said. "This year might be one of those years where I'm monkeying with the lineup quite a bit. It will be a Tetris game for a while. We're young enough that it might be like that all year."
The Cats played four matches in the first 13 days of February, winning against ISU but dropping contests to preseason Big Sky favorite Weber State as well as regional powers Utah and Utah State. In spite of the team struggles the Cats showed signs of improvement each time out. Harry James, MSU's only senior, teamed with freshman Alex Flink to form a doubles team that has won three straight, and James has a pair of singles wins.
Burnham said the last week provided time to focus on fine-tuning in practice. He said that remains important in this weekend's non-league tilt and the time off that follow. "We've been working on certain things individually," he said. "We're competing well for the most part. We're young, so there are some pretty basic things we need to accomplish."
Montana's only spring match was a 7-0 loss at Utah, but the Grizzlies posses a strong returning class. Seniors Semion Branzburg and Tomasz Soltyka form a strong duo at the top of the UM lineup.
After Saturday's contest the Bobcats play at Sacramento State on February 27, then host Idaho and North Datkoa on March 12.
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
Thursday, February 13
Wednesday, April 05
Wednesday, April 17
Monday, March 25
