MISSOULA, Mt. - Taking down Division I opponents is never easy, let alone two in one day to open the season. That was the challenge facing the Whitman College men's tennis team who would come up short in back-to-back losses to Montana and Montana State on Saturday. The Blues start the season 0-2 with Montana improving to 1-1 and MSU to 1-3.

Whitman at Montana
The Blues opened the day against the host Grizzlies. Playing Division I rules, Montana opened the match with wins on the No. 2 then No. 1 doubles courts to earn the doubles point. The Grizzlies also were victorious at third doubles which, along with the one court, were tight matches.

After Dan Foster and Alex Hwang fell at the two, Raj Chikkalingaiah and Ben Kirsh dropped a 6-4 result on the No. 1 court to the Montana tandem of Alex Canellopoulos and Max Korkh. Third doubles went in similar fashion as Montana won again 6-4 to complete the doubles sweep.

Kirsh was the only Whitman competitor to win in singles, doing so in thrilling fashion to temporarily stave off a Grizzly win. Rallying on the No. 2 court to beat Ludvig Hallgren, he won a second-set tiebreaker and the deciding third set for a 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 win.

Korkh won convincingly at the three for the first singles result to put Montana up two. Foster's rally came up short for Whitman with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 loss on the No. 1 court which, coupled with Kirsh's win, could have made the match level after the first three singles results. Ed Pudney would top Andreas Mueller-Immergluch 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) at the four for the match-clincher.

Whitman vs. Montana State
Match two saw the Blues unfortunately unable to get a point off Montana State in a 7-0 loss to the Bobcats.

Three singles matches, however, went the distance most notably on the No. 4 court. Raj Chikkalingaiah won an opening set tiebreaker but would eventually fall 6-7, 6-1, 6-4. Adam Rapoport and Matthew Biggi both rallied from a set down but would eventually fall to their MSU counterparts. Rapoport dropped his result on the No. 3 court 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to Christian Damgaard-Qvist with Biggi falling to Creel Smith 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 at fifth singles.

Doubles play saw the Bobcats win all three matches. Chikkalingaiah and Bear Lee versus the MSU pair of Smith and Joaquin Espinoza featured the most competitive match, but still ended in a 7-5 Bobcat win.

The Blues will be off next week before hitting the road again for their third Division I match to start the season. Whitman will visit the University of Idaho on Sunday, Feb. 10 with a 1:00 p.m. start time.