Griz wrap up season on the road

The Montana women's tennis team will wrap up its season this week with a pair of road matches. The Grizzlies will play at Idaho on Saturday at 1 p.m. (MT) and at Eastern Washington at 11 a.m. (MT) on Sunday.

Montana (2-18, 1-8 BSC), which is tied for last in the Big Sky Conference with Southern Utah, won't be playing in next week's league tournament in Phoenix, but the Vandals and Eagles enter their weekend matches with plenty on the line.

Idaho (12-7, 8-1 BSC) has clinched one of the six tournament spots, and the Vandals could still earn a bye to the semifinals with home victories on Saturday and Sunday over Montana and Montana State.

Idaho, which has defeated Montana the last three times the teams have met, has won the last two Big Sky tournament championships.

The Grizzlies will play at Eastern Washington (5-13, 3-6 BSC) on Sunday. Going into the weekend, the Eagles are one of three teams, along with North Dakota and Weber State, alive for the sixth and final tournament spot. The other five spots are accounted for.

Eastern Washington hosts Montana State on Friday afternoon and can make the tournament with two wins and one Weber State loss this week or a split and two Weber State losses. The Wildcats play on the road at Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

The Eagles' league wins have come against North Dakota, Portland State and Southern Utah.

Eastern Washington defeated Montana twice last season by 5-2 scores, once at Pullman, Wash., once at Missoula.

Northern Arizona, which swept the Montana State-Montana road trip last weekend, sits atop the Big Sky at 10-0 and will be the tournament's top seed, no matter how the Lumberjacks do this weekend against Weber State.

Montana State and Idaho are both 8-1 in league. Their head-to-head matchup on Sunday will determine the tournament's No. 2 and 3 seeds, and which team gets a bye.

Idaho State and Northern Colorado are the other two teams to have clinched a postseason spot. They will be the No. 4 and 5 seeds.

Montana, which advanced to the Big Sky tournament every year between 1990 and 2015, will miss the postseason for the second straight season.

The Grizzlies defeated Lewis-Clark State back on Jan. 21 and have only one Division I win this spring, a 4-3 decision over Southern Utah.

Montana dropped 4-3 decisions in league matches against Sacramento State, Northern Colorado and Weber State.

The Grizzlies lost 6-1 at Montana State on Friday and were swept by Northern Arizona at the Peak Racquet Club on Sunday, 7-0.

Against the Bobcats, the Grizzlies won the doubles point for just the third time this spring against a Division I opponent, with Nathalie Joanlanne and Cam Kincaid winning 6-4 at No. 2 and Lidia Dukic and Milica Panic pulling out a 7-6 (7-4) victory at No. 3.

On Sunday, the Lumberjacks swept the three doubles matches and won five of six singles matches in straight sets. Kincaid was the only player to go three sets, falling 7-5, 2-6, 5-7.

Joanlanne has Montana's best Big Sky singles record of 5-4. Dukic is 4-4. Joanlanne and Kincaid have gone 4-2 together in doubles in league matches.

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Players Mentioned

Lidia Dukic

Nathalie Joanlanne

Cam Kincaid

Milica Panic

University of Montana Athletics