Montana
Washington State
Women's tennis drops opener 6-1 to Washington State
1/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Montana women's tennis team lost it's first match of the season to No. 57 Washington State 6-1, but there were some positives to take away for the Griz.
The biggest one? Senior Precious Gbadamosi, playing No. 1 singles, defeated former nationally ranked Elizaveta Luzina. Gbadamosi defeated the Cougar 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Coach Steve Ascher said a solid practice week was key for his senior.
"She had a really good week of practice and I feel like her concentration is at a really high level," he said. "When she went into the match, I imagine it was important for her as a senior because she hadn't beaten Washington St. in the regular season. I imagine that in her mind was quite important for her."
An adjustment by Luzina in the second set forced the match to three, but Ascher said Gbadamosi made her own adjustments to take the match.
"I felt like she competed really well in the second set, Luzina just raised her game," he said. "She made a couple of adjustments in the third set and she was rock-solid and pulled out a really good win."
The rest of the Grizzlies couldn't find a win, but they pushed Washington State in a number of matches. The Grizzlies won at least four games in every doubles match, but lost a late lead in every match.
"All three of them were up," Ascher said. "We just need to constrict a little more and really hold our opponents down when we're up."
But it wasn't a collapse on Montana's part that led to the doubles losses, but rather some clutch play from the Cougars.
"Washington St. did a good job late coming up with some big serves and hitting some bigger balls and being more aggressive," Ascher said. "But we were right there, which is huge because we had a really good chance at pulling out the doubles point."
Sophomore Anabel Carbo Estruch, playing No. 6 singles, nearly forced three sets in her match, but ultimately fell 7-5, 6-4 in the final match of the day.
The Grizzlies traveled to Spokane following the matches and will take on Gonzaga Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
No. 57 Washington State 6 def. Montana 1
Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse
Pullman, Wash. January 30, 2015
DOUBLES
No. 1 Elizaveta Luzina/Lize Leenknecht (WSU) def. Precious Gbadamosi/Laurench Pelchat (UM) 6- 4 No. 2 Victoria Matejevic/Donika Bashota (WSU) vs. Sasha Carter/Catherine Orfanos (UM) 6-5 DNF
No. 2 Maria Biryukova/Nastia Vasyukhina (WSU) def. Hannah Sulz/Cam Kincaid (UM) 6-4
SINGLES
No. 1 Precious Gadamosi (UM) def. Elizaveta Luzina (WSU) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
No. 2 Maria Biryukova (WSU) def. Sasha Carter (UM) 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 Lize Leenknecht (WSU) def. Laurence Pelchat (UM) 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 Donika Bashota (WSU) def. Hannah Sulz (UM) 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 Victoria Matejevic (WSU) def. Cam Kincaid (UM) 6-1, 6-0
No. 6 Nastia Vasyukhina (WSU) def. Anabel Carbo (UM) 7-5, 6-4
Order of Finish: (3,1) ; (2,4,3,5,1,6)
Players Mentioned
