Panic in Missoula

It took Milica Panic three tries before she finally scored well enough on the TOEFL exam, which tests proficiency in the English language, that the University of Montana was willing to take a chance on the native of Belgrade, Serbia.

"It was such a long journey," says Panic, who joined the Montana women's tennis team last month, one semester later than she originally planned.

Her voice, a mixture of pauses, deep concentration and halting English, is still a work in progress.

For example, when asked about the population of Belgrade, the city she left behind last month, she answers, "One thousand people, I think." Do you mean one million? "Wait. Yes, one million."

And the exact work of her parents will have to wait for another day. She knows what she wants to say in her native Serbian, but the translation doesn't yet come to her.

"My dad has a company, and my mom also works there," says Panic, whose name is pronounced may-LEET-sa PAWN-eech. "They buy and sell. Things for building. It's kind of store, but not exactly.

"I worry about my mistakes so much when I'm talking. You have words that are difficult for me still, but it will be better because I take English class."

English as a second language may still have its barriers and pitfalls, but tennis is tennis, whether it's Belgrade or Missoula. The sport crosses borders easily, ignorant of politics. The court is always 78 feet long, and Panic's game is easily translated.

"She is a powerful player. Very aggressive," says ninth-year Griz coach Steve Ascher.

Panic, who played No. 6 for the Grizzlies when they opened their spring dual season two weeks ago with road matches at Washington State and Lewis-Clark State, and her teammates head east this week for matches against Iowa State and Iowa in Iowa City.

The Grizzlies (1-1) will play the Cyclones (2-1) at noon (MT) on Saturday at Iowa's Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. Sunday's match against Iowa (3-0) begins at 5 p.m. (MT) and can be tracked through live video and live stats.

"As a coach, I'm so dialed into the day-to-day that I haven't really given the names of this week's opponents much thought," said Ascher. "Obviously when I got the call saying they were interested in having us come out, it was super exciting."

Iowa State opened its season in Pennsylvania last weekend, losing 4-2 to Temple before rebounding with 6-1 victories over Villanova and Lehigh.

Iowa is undefeated, with a 5-2 road win at Central Florida and 7-0 home victories over Creighton and Northern Illinois.

"Getting those matches on the schedule a year and a half ago was exciting for me. Now it's neat to see the team getting excited about them as well as we build up toward this weekend," said Ascher. "They've been putting in the work to do well when we get there.

"I'm excited for them to experience the matches. It's going to be fun, because these are good teams."

Panic will be ready, more so than she was two weeks ago when she lost 6-2, 6-2 in her Montana debut against Washington State's Ege Tomey, as the Grizzlies fell 7-0 to the Cougars in Pullman.

"First match was so-so. I was so nervous. I did not play that bad, but I lost. This girl, she plays good, but I had better points but so many errors. Because of my nervous, I guess," she says.

She didn't have to wait long to make things right. Later that day, Panic rallied to defeat LCSC's Begona Andres 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 in Lewiston. "I was less nervous and had more confidence in myself than first match."

The naturalization of Panic will continue this week. Because of an airline schedule change, the team will spend some of its now seven-hour layover in Minneapolis on Friday at the nearby Mall of America and its nearly five million square feet of excess.

Welcome to the U.S., home of the Whopper, conspicuous consumption and two Mall of America stores that exist solely to sell you candles.

At least one part of the experience will not be foreign to Panic. She was a model from the ages of 4 to 8 before she ever picked up a racket.

"It was so bored," she says, not quite nailing the grammar but still getting her point across clearly.

"My best friend play tennis, and I was at one practice. When I saw her on the court, okay mom and dad, I'm going to play tennis. They were kind of surprising because I was a model. Next day I start. That was it."

Unlike modeling, tennis wasn't boring, and Panic, who started playing at the age of 8, was a natural. "After one year I played my first tournament. I lost in quarterfinals. I remember, still," she says. "In Belgrade, against everyone under 10 years old. That's how everything starts."

When she was 11, she won her first national tournament. The first of many? "Yes, of course. I have a lot of medals. I have a lot of trophies in my room. Mostly for first and second."

The journey from Belgrade to Montana was actually first taken by Petar Barcot, a friend of Panic's since she first started playing. He was a Grizzly last year but played for just a season. He's now on the team at DePauw University in Indiana.

"I knew him from a while back, like 10 years," Panic says. "He suggested the school. I sent my email to the coach. That's it.

"I was here last year, in April. I had official visit. I saw that our coach is awesome, which is very important for me. Everything looks nice. People, the opportunity, being in business, which is my major."

Since she arrived last month, it's been total immersion. Tennis, classes, dorm roommate, new teammates. And a winter that has offered few hints that the Grizzlies might one day again be able to play outside.

"I don't have this problem," she says. "Maybe because I'm born in January. People always say it depends in which month you're born. I'm born in January. That means I would probably like winter."

But she didn't make her choice of colleges based on climate. She found the coach she wanted, the program she wanted and the academic track she wanted at Montana.

"In school, I'm trying to give my best and get my degree. On the court, the same," she says. "I like to compete. I like to win." And that sounds good in any language.

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Players Mentioned

Milica Panic

University of Montana Athletics