Griz open fall season at Idaho State Invitational

Earlier this week, without any prompting, a group of freshmen on the Montana women's tennis team brought a box of donuts to practice with candles in them to celebrate another teammate's birthday.

A fun gesture to be sure, but for head coach Steve Ascher, it represented more than just a small way to brighten someone's day. To him, it represents a change in attitude in his program that finished 3-19 a year ago.

"It's not a big thing, but man, to just know someone is aware of their surroundings and is doing something to make someone else's day brighter is important to me," says Ascher.

"It wasn't directed by me, they were just doing things to help the team, and that's the mentality we need. We need everyone on the team to take on leadership responsibilities and be good teammates."

The Grizzlies open the 2017 fall season this weekend in Pocatello at the Idaho State Invitational with a reloaded squad featuring three of Montana's most decorated freshmen in program history.

First-year Griz Bianca Bostrom (Malmo, Sweden), Eimear Maher (Newbridge, Ireland) and Julia Ronney (San Diego, Calif.) fill Montana's three open roster spots left by graduating seniors this season and bring full trophy cabinets from high school with them.

Bostrom took the bronze medal at Sweden's U18 national championship a year ago, a tournament she'd claimed gold at in years past. Maher won a pair of doubles national titles last year at the Irish Junior Championships and was a quarterfinalist in singles, and Ronney comes to Missoula as a three-time all-league singles performer and doubles champion as well.

"They're coming in with really good resumes. Once you get here, it's a clean slate. You have a resume, and that's why you here," said Ascher.

It's not only youth movement for UM this season, however.

Montana returns one of its top performers from two years ago in senior Cam Kincaid who missed all of last fall and nine matches in the spring with a wrist injury.

Catherine Orfanos adds to the senior leadership this season for the Griz as one of UM's top doubles players from a year ago.

"All the returners we have this year, I'm really happy with the way they fight. Cam fights, Cat fights extremely well. Nathalie Joanlanne had a great run in the middle of the season, and I like her determination on the court. Lidia Dukic is a great competitor," says Ascher. "It's starting to take shape, and now we can start seeing some heightened success."

THE SCHEDULE: Montana won't sell itself short on challenging competition this fall as Ascher builds his team for Big Sky success in the spring.

The Griz will take on Big Sky foes Weber State and Idaho State as well as Utah State and Boise State from the Mountain West this weekend in Pocatello.

From there Montana travels to Chicago and enter a tournament loaded with Big 10-caliber opponents at the Northwestern Invitational Sept. 29 - Oct. 1. The Griz then head to Southern California to play in a tournament hosted by last year's Big West Conference Semifinalist Long Beach State Oct. 6 – 8.

After three warm-up weekends, the Griz then head to Salt Lake for the ITA Mountain Regional Tournament hosted by the Utah Utes to test themselves against the best in the west. Montana then caps the fall schedule in Boise at the Bronco's invitational tourney Oct. 27-29.

For Ascher, the step up in competition prepares his squad, not just for success in the Big Sky, but lays the building blocks for regional and national prominence. But that's just the small picture. Ascher has built this fall's strong schedule with the big picture in mind as well.

"We can create a scope larger than just in the state of Montana. We can create a regional and national ranked program," said Ascher.

"We're creating growth in these kids to enter the real world and be successful. If we're creating this growth and this mindset within kids, then we need to do this with our schedules, how we interact with them, how they interact with people around campus. For me, it's all integral and interrelated."

The Idaho State Invitational begins at 10 a.m. Friday morning at Reed Gym in Pocatello.

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Players Mentioned

Bianca Bostrom

Lidia Dukic

Nathalie Joanlanne

Cam Kincaid

Eimear Maher

Catherine Orfanos

Julia Ronney

University of Montana Athletics