Montana
Northern Colorado
Griz look strong as they sweep UNC at home
4/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 7, 2012
The University of Montana women's tennis team moved one step closer to the Big Sky Conference tournament after sweeping Northern Colorado 7-0 in front of a home crowd Saturday at the Peak Health and Wellness Center Racquet Club in south Missoula.
The win ties Montana (11-7, 4-2 BSC) with Northern Colorado (8-6, 4-2 BSC) in third place in the Big Sky standings with two duals left for the Griz in the regular season.
"We have been practicing well," said coach Steve Ascher of his team's performance. "It's always nice to see that translate into matches."
Montana got off to a swift start sweeping the doubles point 3-0 beginning with Heather Davidson and Laurence Pelchat claiming the No. 1 match 8-4.
At No. 2 Sasha Carter and Maddy Murray blasted out to a huge 6-1 lead but Jennifer Whateley and Adriana Nieto were not going to go out quietly. The UNC pair ran off four straight games in a row to bring the score to 7-5 before Murray and Carter finally broke the Bears to seal the deciding doubles match 8-5.
Precious Gbadamosi and Ashley Mackey played a tight match as well trading games back and forth until breaking UNC to take the No. 3 match 8-6.
The Grizzlies' momentum continued as Murray and Davidson both made quick work of their UNC adversaries dropping only two games between the two of them. Murray won her match 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5 and Davidson won easily at No. 1 6-0, 6-1.
Pelchat won the deciding match at No. 2 with a two set victory over Nieto. Pelchat was down in both sets before coming back to win 6-4 in the first and 6-2 in the second.
Carter and Mackey also won in straight sets. Carter defeated Stephanie Catlin 6-3, 6-2 and Mackey won over Elizabeth Tapia 6-0 and 6-4.
Gbadamosi was the only Grizzly pushed to a third set. After losing the opening set 6-2, Gbadamosi wasn't going to let the Grizzly sweep get away as she bounced back in the second set with a 4-1 early lead. Her opponent, Chrissie Hoolahan, rallied to win four straight games to take the second set lead 5-4. Gbadamosi, with her teammates cheering next to her, broke Hoolahan to tie it at five all, held serve to take the lead, then broke Hoolahan again to push the match to a third and final set. The No. 6 victory went to the Montana freshman after a 10-7 win in the third-set super breaker.
Northern Colorado will travel to Bozeman to play the Montana State Bobcats Sunday. The Bobcats are one win behind Montana and Northern Colorado at 3-2.
The Grizzlies will play their last two regular season conference matches at home, first with Eastern Washington Apr. 13, then Montana State Apr. 15.
Montana 7, Northern Colorado 0
Apr 07, 2012 at Missoula, Mont. (The Peak Racquet Club)
Singles competition
1. Davidson, Heather (UM) def. WHATELEY, Jennifer (UNC) 6-0, 6-1
2. Pelchat, Laurence (UM) def. NIETO, Adriana (UNC) 6-4, 6-2
3. Mackey, Ashley (UM) def. TAPIA, Elizabeth (UNC) 6-0, 6-4
4. Carter, Sasha (UM) def. CATLIN, Stephanie (UNC) 6-3, 6-2
5. Murray, Maddy (UM) def. BUCHANAN, Jennifer (UNC) 6-1, 6-0
6. Gbadamosi, Precious (UM) def. HOOLAHAN, Chrissie (UNC) 2-6, 7-5, 10-7
Doubles competition
1. DAVIDSON, Heather/PELCHAT, Laurence (UM) def. CATLIN, Stephanie/TAPIA, Elizabeth (UNC) 8-4
2. CARTER, Sasha/MURRAY, Maddy (UM) def. WHATELEY, Jennifer/NIETO, Adriana (UNC) 8-5
3. GBADAMOSI, Precious/MACKEY, Ashley (UM) def. BUCHANAN, Jennifer/HOOLAHAN, Chrissie (UNC) 8-6
Match Notes
Northern Colorado 8-6, 4-2 BSC
Montana 11-7, 4-2 BSC
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (5,1,2,4,3,6)
Official: Steve Schwartz
Players Mentioned
