Griz perform well at Northwestern Invite

Friday, September 29

Evanston, Ill.

Montana

Northwestern Invitational

10/2/2017 7:12:00 PM | Women's Tennis

FULL RESULTS

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team wrapped up a weekend for the books in Chicago, playing matches against a number of power five schools and getting a lot of support, even if they were playing more than half the country away from Missoula.

The trip was particularly special for Catherine Orfanos, a senior from Chicago, had the chance to play in front of her parents and have a meal at home. Nathalie Joanlanne's mom was also in town, and coach Steve Ascher had an old college teammate there to support Montana, providing an unusual amount of support while on the road.

The Griz found some success, with Orfanos and Bianca Bostrom picking up wins. Orfanos dropped her opening two matches against players from DePaul and Utah. In her final match, she dropped the opening set 6-3 but bounced back with wins in the final two sets against Bianca Zuzu from Illinois-Chicago

"When you can get a kid that comes from Chicago out to Montana, and then you give them the chance to go home, it's different but you've got to have foresight, and it's cool."

Bostrom also fell in her opening two matches but finished the weekend with a 6-4, 6-3 win against a player from Chicago State.

The Griz only brought two more players, Joanlanne and Milica Panic. Even with limited players and tough competition, it was a learning weekend for Ascher, who got to see how his team handled big matches.

"That was a big one for me, seeing how they operate on the bigger stage when you are an underdog pretty much every match you go out, but can you handle that and then perform, push that player and get some wins," Ascher said. "That happened, so for me, it's a success."

The experience also gave Ascher a chance to use a more hands-on coaching approach, helping on a point-by-point basis. He also said that he wants to pull off more of these kinds of trips in the future.

"We have some Americans come in from a little bit different geographies now, and it's like, does this open a door if we can fundraise for this. This is really special, it's not a normal trip in terms of what occurred, and that's what is really cool about having Montana out there in different places."

The Griz are back in action on Oct. 6 at the Long Beach State Invitational and have two more tournaments after that in the fall season.