Women's tennis team falls 4-3

Sunday, March 9

Northridge, Calif.

11:00 AM

Montana

Cal State Northridge

Maddy Murray lost in three sets at No. 6 singles.

3/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

March 9, 2014

The Montana Grizzlies women's tennis team finished up its southern California roadtrip with a narrow defeat at the hands of Cal State Northridge, losing 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.

The match lasted six hours, as No. 5 and No. 6 singles were both grueling, hard fought matches where neither team was backing down.

"Every point was 30 ball rallies," Haley Driver said. "Every game was deuce. It was a battle, it was just really a battle. We were all watching, cheering every single point. It was really consistent, no balls were missed. Everyone was going for it -- it was definitely a lot of tennis."

Cal State Northridge won both of the matches to turn the Grizzlies 3-2 lead into a 4-3 victory. At No. 5, Lorraine Cheung defeated Ashley Mackey 7-6 (8-3), 4-6, 6-2, while Leslie Chang at No. 6 knocked off Maddy Murray 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

The Grizzlies won the doubles point easily, clinching the point after the first two matches. In singles play, UM's two victorious players were Driver and Laurence Pelchat. Driver won in straight sets at No. 2 against Mickey Hsu.

"She had some wicked angles, so my goal was to just hit it deep," Driver said. "I knew if I hit it to the baseline every time, there was no way she could keep up these wicked angles on me. I really just fought and clawed. I got some really lucky balls back."

The Griz finish the weekend 1-2, with its other loss coming against No. 57 Long Beach State.

"It was a good weekend," Driver said. "Everyone gave it everything they had. We're all burned lobsters -- it was really hot, and we were totally out of our element compared to what we're used to in Missoula. I think overall we competed well, but we're definitely going to go back to Missoula with a little bit of fire underneath us, and put in a little bit more work each and every day."

Montana travels to Reno, Nevada next weekend to play Nevada and Seattle University.

Cal State Northridge 4, Montana 3
Sunday, March 9 2014 at Northridge, Calif. (Anteater Tennis Stadium)

Singles results
No. 1 Vivian Lin (CSUN) def. Precious Gbadamosi (UM) 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 Haley Driver (UM) def. Mickey Hsu (CSUN) 6-2, 7-6 (8-3)
No. 3 Criss Rodriguez (CSUN) def. Sasha Carter (UM) 6-4, 7-5
No. 4 Laurence Pelchat (UM) def. Scout Shutter (CSUN) 6-2, 7-5
No. 5 Lorraine Cheung (CSUN) def. Ashley Mackey (UM) 7-6 (8-3), 4-6, 6-2
No. 6 Leslie Chang (CSUN) def. Maddy Murray lUM) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3

Doubles results
No. 1 Haley Driver/Precious Gbadamosi (UM) def. Criss Rodriguez/Vivian Lin (CSUN) 8-5
No. 2 Laurence Pelchat/Sasha Carter (UM) vs. Mickey Hsu/Kristen Poei (CSUN) 6-4, unfinished
No. 3 Ashley Mackey/Maddy Murray (UM) def. Lorraine Cheung/Corinne Schnyder (CSUN) 8-2