Montana
North Dakota
Women's tennis dominates in Grand Forks
2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Grand Forks was not prepared for Montana had to offer Friday afternoon. The Griz cruised to an easy sweep of North Dakota and Minnesota-Crookston by a combined score of 14-0 to improve to 2-0 on the season in Big Sky play.
The doubles point against North Dakota (3-6/ 0-2 BSC) in the morning was perhaps the only time all day Montana (3-4/ 2-0 BSC) felt some pressure. Callie Ronkowski and Lacey Sprinkel, a doubles team having a very succesful season thus far, knocked off the No. 1 Grizzly team of Precious Gbadamosi and Laurence Pelchat.
The top team received help from the next two spots, however, and the Griz took the doubles point after Sasha Carter and Catherine Orfanos defeated Mimi Yunker and Faith Lee 6-3. Hannah Sulz and Cam Kincaid also won 6-3 against Kathleen Preston and Sophie Allen-Fisher.
It was smooth sailing from then on for the Griz, as they won all six singles matches in straight sets. Laurence Pelchat and Hannah Sulz both picked up their first singles victories of the season.
Coach Steve Ascher said it was strange going into the UND matches with no information on the opponent.
"The match against North Dakota was interesting as we knew absolutely nothing about them," he said. "We have to compartmentalize and go out on the court and try to pick up as much information as quickly as possible."
The Grizzlies remained unbeaten, and Ascher thinks they will need every win they can get in a very competitive Big Sky Conference.
"It's good to get another conference win as the addition of Idaho will make for a strong field of only six teams at the championships," he said. "North Dakota is improved and should test a few teams this season."
The Griz then took a break before they hit the courts again, this time with Division-II Minnesota-Crookston on the other side of the nets. The match was as lopsided as it could be, with the Grizzlies winning all six matches 6-0, 6-0. Precious Gbadamosi rested which shifted every player up a spot, and Anabel Carbo Estruch picked up her first win of the season at No. 6 singles.
The schedule opens up for a stretch, as the Griz don't play again until March 13. This is the last long stretch of time-off Montana will have for the rest of the season, and Ascher would like to take advantage of it.
"We will have our last break before heading into a busy last two months of the season," he said. "We have seen some nice improvements in the players games, so we will take this time to work on a few more things before heading into the final big push."
Montana 7 @ North Dakota 0
Feb 20, 2015 at Grand Forks, N.D.
(Choice Health and Fitness)
Singles competition
1. Gbadamosi, Precious (UM) def. RONKOWSKI, Callie (UND) 6-2, 6-3
2. Carter, Sasha (UM) def. SPRINKEL, Lacey (UND) 6-1, 6-4
3. Pelchat, Laurence (UM) def. YUNKER, Mimi (UND) 7-5, 6-3
4. Sulz, Hannah (UM) def. LEE, Faith (UND) 6-2, 7-3
5. Kincaid, Cam (UM) def. ALLEN-FISHER, Sophie (UND) 6-4, 6-2
6. Orfanos, Catherine (UM) def. PRESTON, Kathleen (UND) 7-5, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. RONKOWSKI, Callie/SPRINKEL, Lacey (UND) def. GBADAMOSI, Precious/PELCHAT, Laurence (UM) 6-4
2. CARTER, Sasha/ORFANOS, Catherine (UM) def. YUNKER, Mimi/LEE, Faith (UND) 6-3
3. SULZ, Hannah/KINCAID, Cam (UM) def. ALLEN-FISHER, Sophie/PRESTON, Kathleen (UND) 6-3
Montana 7, UM-Crookston 0
Singles
1. Carter (UM) def. Brown (UM-C) 6-0, 6-0
2. Pelchat (UM) def. Erickson (UM-C) 6-0, 6-0
3. Sulz (UM) def. Smith (UM-C) 6-0, 6-0
4. Kincaid (UM) def. Dogan (UM-C) 6-0, 6-0
5. Orfanos (UM) def. Alcini (UM-C) 6-0, 6-0
6. Carbo Estruch (UM) def. Burrows (UM-C) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
1. Carbo/Pelchat (UM) def. Brown/Erickson (UM-C) 8-2
2. Carter/Kincaid (UM) def. Smith/Dogan (UM-C) 8-1
3. Orfanos/Sulz (UM) def. Alcini/Burrows (UM-C) 8-0
Players Mentioned
