Apr. 11—GRAND FORKS — UND lost the doubles point in a tiebreaker against Illinois State last weekend.
About 30 minutes later, head coach Tom Boysen scanned the scoreboard at the end of Choice Health and Fitness and knew his Fighting Hawks were going to be just fine.
The first set singles scores at the top five spots were 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 and 6-1 in favor of UND.
The Fighting Hawks throttled the Redbirds in singles to set up the biggest regular-season showdown in the program's Division-I history.
UND and Denver will play at 10:15 a.m. Sunday at Choice Health and Fitness for the Summit League's regular-season title.
UND has never won a men's tennis title since reinstating the program in 2012-13.
"I'm happy and proud of the work the guys have done," Boysen said. "I'm proud of the fact that we knew five or six matches ago that this was a possibility, but they've taken a one-match-at-a-time approach. They knew this was a reachable goal, but they didn't jump ahead or overlook anybody. They've put in the work. They've taken care of business on their own. They haven't backed into this. They've earned the right to do this."
The Fighting Hawks are 17-3. They've won a school-record 14 in a row. They're a perfect 4-0 in Summit League play.
"They've been looking forward to this chance for almost 12 months," Boysen said. "I'm really happy that they're getting the opportunity."
UND's opponent has been the league's dominant team.
Denver has won five-straight Summit League regular-season titles. The Pioneers have won 33 Summit League regular-season league matchups in a row. Their last regular-season conference loss was Feb. 18, 2018, at Drake.
"In one sense, it's easier to know that's the bar they've set and that's how good they are," Boysen said. "We're kind of the underdogs in other peoples' minds. We'll feel free to play. We know that we have to take this from them. I don't think anybody on the team thinks Denver is going to hand this to us or fall apart. They're mentally tough. I think, in a way, that takes pressure off of us. If we apply pressure, and we're not looking scared, the pressure flips to them."
In singles, UND's No. 1 player, Leandro Zgraggen, has been dominant, going 15-2. No. 2 Ange-Kevin Koua is 12-5, No. 3 Leo Galliano is 15-2, No. 4 Andrew Hayduke II is 10-2 and No. 5 Ethan Terry is 11-6.
The winner of Sunday's matchup will have the No. 1 seed in the Summit League tournament.
The tournament will be played April 18-19 at Denver Tennis Park. The winner of the tournament will advance to the NCAA tournament.
"I don't think these guys care about numbers, stats, altitude, what types of balls we're playing with," Boysen said. "They just want to play."
When: 10:15 a.m. Sunday.
Where: Choice Health and Fitness.
Records: UND 17-3 (4-0), Denver 14-6 (3-0).
Stream: FightingHawks.com.
