Montana
Oregon
Women's tennis drops opener against Oregon
2/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
On the first night of a three-day road swing, the Montana Grizzlies women's tennis team lost to the University of Oregon 5-2.
The Grizzlies (0-3) started off on a sour note, closely dropping the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles Rose/Tobita (ORE), who are ranked No. 10 in the Northwest Region, took care of business, defeating Gbadamosi/Pelchat (UM) 6-1.
Carter/Orfanos (UM) earned a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Long/Kluiving (ORE), which put the doubles point in the hands of the No. 3 doubles teams. Sulz/Kincaid had a chance for Montana, but dropped a tight match in the tiebreak 7-6 (3).
Coach Steve Ascher knows his team missed a good chance, and thinks they need to get more aggressive in crunch time.
"We had chances in the doubles for sure," he said. "Continuing to play aggressive while up is important in the doubles. Obviously we are doing the necessary elements in order to put ourselves in a position to win, now we need to continue to develop that killer instinct."
While losing the doubles point was frustrating, Ascher doesn't think it affected his team in singles play.
"I don't think doubles affected the singles at all," he said. "We competed well in singles as a whole."
In singles, freshman Catherine Orfanos (UM) led the way for the Griz with an impressive 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 6 singles over Kadie Hueffner (ORE).
Senior Sasha Carter (UM) earned the other point for Montana at No. 2 singles with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
The Griz had a couple of chances to take other singles matches, but couldn't close them out in tiebreakers. Precious Gbadamosi and Laurence Pelchat (UM) both lost in a second set tiebreak, and Cam Kincaid (UM) took her match to three sets, losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Ascher thought his team could have taken advantage of the outdoor surfaces in Eugene.
"Playing outside and on slower courts just involves being a little more disciplined in longer points and looking for right moments to take control of the points," he said. "These matches are fun as they are so close contested."
And a new scoring format speeds up play and allows less momentum changes.
"With the new scoring format, everything happens quicker and there aren't as many opportunities for momentum changes," Ascher said. "So, with just a few more bounces in our direction we could have won today."
The Grizzlies will remain in Eugene and take on the University of Iowa tomorrow before heading to Portland to begin Big Sky Conference play against Portland State Sunday.
Oregon 5, Montana 2 Eugene, Ore. Student Tennis Center February 13, 2015
Singles
1. Nia Rose (ORE) def. Precious Gbadamos (UM) 6-3, 7-6 (4)
2. Sasha Carter (UM) def. Alyssa Tobita (ORE) 6-3, 6-4
3. Nicole Long (ORE) def. Laurence Pelchat (UM) 6-2, 7-6 (6)
4. Marlou Kluiving (ORE) def. Hannah Sulz (UM) 6-0, 6-2
5. Lina Akesson (ORE) def. Cam Kincaid (UM) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
6. Cat Orfanos (UM) def. Kadie Hueffner (ORE) 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 4, 6, 2, 3, 1, 5
Doubles
1. Rose/Tobita (ORE) def. Gbadamosi/Pelchat (UM) 6-1
2. Carter/Orfanos (UM) def. Long/Kluiving (ORE) 6-4
3. K. Hueffner/Akesson (ORE) def. Kincaid/Sulz (UM) 7-6 (3)
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Players Mentioned
