Grizzly women's tennis to play four-in-four
3/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The 5-7, 4-1 BSC University of Montana women???s tennis team begins an epic seven??days on the road Sunday, which will feature four consecutive matches and will include conference matches vs. Big Sky No. 1, No. 45 Sacramento State and Eastern Washington, third in the Big Sky.????????
Benefitting from a week off from competition, the Grizzlies will be headed to outdoor courts in sunny California for the majority of their road matches.
Counting his team prepared for the trip, UM coach Steve Ascher said, ???Our team hasn???t hosted a home match in a year and a half. We are starting to see that we travel well and can play virtually anywhere.
???Moving outdoors, compared with the indoor conditions we have seen this winter, we will see the ball slow down quite a bit, making points longer to complete. This plays more into both point construction and shot selection, which is something that we really focus on here at UM. I strongly believe that this focus will play as an advantage to our girls as we compete on the road this next week.???
Montana will begin competition Sunday at Gonzaga, where the Grizzlies suffered a 3-4 loss in 2009. Ascher said, ???Gonzaga is a team that is competitive, but also one that this Montana group can beat. For some reason, we have not done so in recent past, and we want to start out by facing that challenge.
???Being so close, those Spokane players respect a rivalry between our two schools and it brings an extra energy to that match. We overcame a rival of a different magnitude a few weeks back with MSU. We will keep that same mindset, and hope to execute the same in Spokane.???
After an afternoon flight to Sacramento, the Grizzlies will have less than 24 hours to prepare for the match-up with 12-5, Big Sky No. 1 (4-0) Sacramento State Monday afternoon.??
The No. 45 Hornets dispensed with Big Sky No. 3 Eastern Washington Wednesday evening, sweeping the Eagles 7-0 in the process.
The 2010 Sacramento State spring schedule compares with the toughest in Division I tennis, with the Hornets defeating No. 72 Oregon, No. 56 UC-Irvine and No. 60 San Diego, while dropping matches to No. 3 California, No. 14 Stanford and No. 19 Washington, to name a few.?? ????
The Hornets will be led by Katrina Zheltova, 2009 Big Sky No. 1 in singles, who went 13-4 during an injured spring 2009 season to lead the Hornets to their eighth consecutive Big Sky title. Zheltova is 8-3 in an abbreviated 2010 spring season at No. 1 for Sac.
Ascher said, ???Having played as they have against some tough opponents this spring, I am expecting to see our Montana team really take advantage of the conditions and play well with Sacramanto. ??
???One great element of being at home for a few weeks is that we have had a chance to break down certain elements of our player???s games to a greater degree. Coming off that work, I know that they will compete with any team we see on this trip.
???I try to look at how a team competes with other match-ups through the season, if only to see how a program has grown stronger or weaker from previous seasons. It???s hard not to see scores that convince you that this Montana team can come out ahead Monday.???
Following the Sac. State matchup, the Grizzlies move on to a Tuesday afternoon match with 7-5 San Jose State. The Spartans, fresh off a 6-1 win over Sonoma State, lost 3-4 to Eastern Washington Saturday, another matchup that the Grizzlies will likely be eyeing as they weigh themselves against the Big Sky opponent.
For its fourth match in as many days, the UM squad will visit UC Davis, 5-6 thus far in spring play. The Aggies have suffered a 6-1 loss at the hands of Sacramento State, and recent 7-0 victories over san SJSU and Portland State this spring.
The Grizzlies will be led by junior Rebecca Bran, who is 4-2 in singles play at No. 1 fo UM.
Montana will also look to freshmen Constance Alexander and Heather Davidson who are both 6-6 in singles.
In addition to a strong singles presence, Davidson has combined for 8-3 at doubles, playing with both Bran at No. 1 and senior Kayla Moyse at No 3.
After a brief respite from their initial four competitions, the Grizzlies will go on to face 9-6 (4-1 BSC) Eastern Washington Friday, April 2 and 6-7 Seattle University Saturday, April 3.????????
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