GRAND FORKS, N.D. – After clinching the doubles point on a tiebreaker, North Dakota men's tennis split the six singles matches with Montana and took home a 4-3 win off a three-set win from Kotaro Matsumura on Friday afternoon at Choice Health & Fitness.

"You have to do certain things well to beat good, well-coached teams like Montana," said head coach Tom Boysen. "Things like grit, toughness and composure are non-negotiable if you want to come out with a victory. We displayed those things today, which gave us a chance to win."
 
The duo of Justin Ilic and Walker Valentine kicked things off with a 6-3 win from the No. 3 court before the Grizzlies took the 6-4 win at the top spot. Christos Alex and Darrshan Suresh Kumar were knotted 6-6 before dominating in the tiebreaker to take the 7-6 win at the middle position and put UND ahead 1-0.

"On top of that, we played a very good doubles point, especially in the big moments," said Boysen. "We also did a great job of managing the emotional high of winning a close doubles point while still shifting our attention to the singles matches from the first point. We jumped out to some good first set leads right away."
 
Singles play began with a strong play for North Dakota as Leo Galliano cruised his way to a stifling 6-2, 6-0 win at the No. 1 court. Montana took a 6-1, 6-4 win at the No. 2 position before the home team bounced back with a hard-fought 6-1, 7-5 showing from Valentine at the sixth court. With a 3-1 score now on the scoreboard, Montana clawed back with the next two matches off the third and fifth courts, respectively, but scores of 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 and 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
 
All eyes turned to the No. 4 court, where Matsumura was locked in a third-set battle. After taking the opening set 6-3, the junior dropped the second, 6-4. But the momentum flipped back in the favor of Matsumura, who put the pedal to the metal for a convincing 6-2 third set victory to clinch the 4-3 North Dakota win.

"Everybody who played today got a win of some sort and it was great to see Kotaro get his first UND clinch," said Boysen.
 
North Dakota men's tennis will be back in action on Saturday afternoon for a rematch against Montana inside Choice Health & Fitness. Match time is set for 4:30 p.m.  

For more information on North Dakota men's tennis, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmtennis.