DENVER – The University of Denver men's tennis team won its fourth consecutive match to start the 2026 season with a 6-1 victory against Montana at Denver Tennis Park on Sunday.
 
The doubles point proved to be contentious but ultimately went to Denver after coming down to the No. 2 match after the teams split the first two courts. In singles, DU cruised to a clinch with straight-sets wins at Nos. 3, 4 and 5. DU added two more points with another win in two sets at No. 2 singles and a victory in a match tiebreak in the top match.
 
Doubles:
Denver's No. 3 doubles team of senior Raffaello Papajcik and freshman Aaron Beduhn won their second match together, claiming the first five games on their way to a 6-1 victory.
 
Montana stayed alive for the point with a 6-3 win in No. 1 doubles, but Denver's Connor Robb-Wilcox and Theo Coats clinched the point just a few minutes later, getting the only break of the match for a 5-4 lead before serving it out in the next game.
 
Singles:
Mishiro started things rolling in singles with an impressive 6-1 6-1 win after moving back up to the No. 4 spot. In both sets, he took a 4-0 lead before his opponent held for the first and only time. Up 5-1, the DU senior served out the first set, then broke in the final game of the match to take the second set.
 
Robb-Wilcox put DU within a point of the victory in what was his best singles win of the season so far. Twice, he went down a break in the first set but fought back to win the final four games for a 6-4 set. He also fell behind to begin the second set but again turned it around, this time winning the final six games for 6-2.
 
Coats earned the clinching point, losing one fewer game than Robb-Wilcox in his match at No. 3 singles. After conceding his first service game of the match, he rallied back to get level at 3-3 before taking his own break lead and then adding an insurance break to take the first set, 6-3. An early break put him ahead in the second set, a spot he'd maintain on his way to a 6-2 win.
 
Montana got on the board at No. 6 singles, but DU retook a four-point lead up 5-1 with a win from sophomore Samuel Rovai in the No. 2 spot. He traded breaks early in the first set but went up a break again for 5-4 and backed it up with a hold for 6-4. The second set started tighter but also saw Rovai go up a break late, though his opponent broke back at deuce with the Pioneer serving for the match. Two holds later, and the set was in a tiebreak where a 3-0 lead set up Rovai for a relatively easy 7-3 win.
 
The only match to go beyond two sets was the No. 1 singles slot, which saw Papajcik rally after losing the first set in an extended tiebreak. Both players held break leads in the second set, but it was Papajcik with a break at deuce in the 10^th game to force a deciding frame. With the dual decided, they played a 10-point match tiebreak that stayed tight until Papajcik claimed a mini-break lead for 8-7 and won the next two points to seal it.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's tennis team hits the road for the first time in 2026 and heads to Boise, Idaho, for two matches against Wichita State and Boise State on February 14-15.