Griz on the road for pair of matches

The Montana women's tennis team, coming off an important three-match home stand that gave the Grizzlies their first Big Sky Conference win, will play matches this week at Wyoming and Northern Colorado.

Montana will play the Cowgirls on Friday at 10 a.m. in Laramie in what will be the Grizzlies' final nonconference match of the season. The road trip will conclude with a match against the Bears at 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Wyoming will give Montana one of its most challenging tests of the spring. Not only will the match be played at 7,000 feet elevation, the Cowgirls are 9-3 and holding a strong body of work.

Wyoming is 5-0 against Big Sky Conference teams, with a 6-1 win over Montana State and 6-1 and 5-2 wins over Idaho. The Bobcats and Vandals sit atop the Big Sky standings with 5-0 league marks.

The last time Montana visited Laramie, in 2015, the Cowgirls won 6-1, with the Grizzlies' lone win coming from Precious Gbadamosi at No. 1 singles.

Northern Colorado is 5-5 overall, 2-2 in league, with wins over Eastern Washington and North Dakota, both by 5-2 scores. The Bears host Northern Arizona, the Big Sky's third unbeaten at 3-0 in league, on Friday.

It's forecasted to be in the upper 70s in Greeley this weekend, which will move the match outdoors.

"Playing at 7,000 feet on Friday will give us an opportunity to adapt to playing at altitude against a very good team," said coach Steve Ascher.

"And it looks like it will be close to 80 in Colorado this weekend, so there will be a lot of adaptations. It will get the players used to taking on the mindset that they should be ready to go anywhere and do their best in any environment we face."

Montana opened its home schedule last weekend, starting with a 6-1 loss to Idaho State on Friday before bouncing back for a 4-3 win over Southern Utah on Saturday, the Grizzlies' first Big Sky win of the spring.

On Sunday Montana played a good Boise State team and lost 6-1 in a match that was more competitive than the final score indicates. The Grizzlies were playing their third match in three days, the Broncos their only match of the weekend.

The doubles point was decided 6-4 at No. 3. Nos. 1-3 singles all went to three sets, No. 4 singles was decided in a second-set tiebreaker, and senior Ana Carbo picked up her first win of the spring at No. 5 in straight sets.

"Last weekend showed me that we're getting better. I'm really excited about how we're playing and developing and becoming better tennis players," said Ascher.

"It was nice to get the win against Southern Utah. There was some pressure in that match, so getting the win helps the players with their belief system, then I like how we competed against Boise."

The split of its Big Sky matches last weekend has Montana sitting at 1-3 in league, 2-12 overall.

After facing the Cowgirls on Friday, the Grizzlies will face Big Sky opponents for the final seven matches of the season. Five of those matches will be on the road.

Montana is in 10th place in the Big Sky standings, with most of the teams in the Big Sky playing a majority of their conference matches over the next month.

The top six teams will make the Big Sky tournament, which will be played the final weekend of April in Phoenix.

Montana State and Idaho are both off to 5-0 starts in league, Northern Arizona is 3-0. North Dakota (4-4) has four league wins, preseason favorite Sacramento State is 2-2 in league after taking 4-3 home losses to both Northern Arizona and Montana State.

"Of course you're always aware of the mathematics of it and what it would take to get yourself into the postseason," said Ascher, who led Montana to the Big Sky tournament championship match in 2012, '13 and '14.

"I wouldn't have worried about it in the past, but now we're in a position where we have to find a way to get there. So I look at the math a little bit, then I get back to the idea of, who's next?"

In her first year on the team, sophomore Nathalie Joanlanne, a transfer from Wisconsin, has won three of her last four singles matches and has a team-best 6-8 record while playing at No. 4.

Competing at No. 2, sophomore Lidia Dukic is 5-9 this spring. She had a straight-set victory over Southern Utah and dropped three-set decisions against both Idaho State and Boise State last weekend.

Hannah Sulz, one of three seniors on this year's team, along with Carbo and Stanzi Stuijt, has teamed up with junior Catherine Orfanos to go 4-6 at No. 1 doubles. They have won three of their last four decisions, with a 6-2 win against Boise State's top doubles team on Sunday.

Sulz, a transfer from Nebraska who is in her third year competing for the Grizzlies, is playing at No. 1 singles and doubles for the first time in her career. Last season she competed mainly at No. 3 singles and No. 3 doubles.

"The way Hannah has been handling herself this year has been huge," said Ascher. "For maturity and moving forward and getting ready for the next step after college, you want to create that confidence and assertiveness, and what better tool than athletics to take a step in that direction?

"It's great to see her continuing to learn. She has another month to squeeze every last ounce out of this opportunity before she graduates and takes on the world."

Montana will play next weekend at Portland State, take the following weekend off from competition, then play a home match against Weber State on Saturday, April 8.

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Players Mentioned

Lidia Dukic

Nathalie Joanlanne

Catherine Orfanos

Stanzi Stuijt

Hannah Sulz

University of Montana Athletics