Griz open 2018 with Cougars and Hawkeyes

Just five days after the start of the new semester, the Montana women's tennis team (0-0) dives into the deep end of the 2018 duals season this week, with a trio of home matches against the Pac-12's Washington State Cougars and the Big 10's Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Griz will take on the Cougars in a doubleheader on Friday, Jan. 26, with matches starting at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Montana will then play a one-off match against the Hawkeyes on Saturday at 11 a.m., with each match held at the PEAK Racquet Club south of Missoula.

One might ask: how do you attract a pair of teams from some of the nation's premier conferences to travel to Missoula? Answer: you offer them bonus tennis on a neutral court. Washington State and Iowa will get extra reps in on Sunday, squaring off at 9 a.m.

It's a win-win for the Grizzlies, who, after a promising fall tournament season, are testing themselves early against some of the strongest competition they will see all year, and looking to improve on last year's 3-19 season.

"The higher level you get to play helps build your belief system, how you compete and what you need to work on," said tenth-year head coach Steve Ascher. "Playing better opponents should expose some different things and open that dialog with ourselves to push for improvement."

With only a handful of practices under their belts and a holiday season worth of home cooking to burn off, it may seem natural for the Griz to enter this weekend's home-stand a little rusty.

But to the contrary, this year's group has returned to Missoula in fighting shape, ready to take on this week's big-name opponents.

"Usually when we come back it's a struggle for the first few days because we haven't been playing," says senior Cam Kincaid, who spent her break playing in the UK and Italy.

"It feels like everyone has been training hard this year, so it's exciting that people really care and they're ready to play."

In the short amount of time he's had to evaluate his team, Ascher agrees that there is something different with this year's group in the way they have prepared.

"They were diligent, they've done the work. We look like we're somewhere in February right now," he said. "They're engaged, and they understand it's their craft and they take it seriously."

Montana takes the court this season with a mixed squad in terms of experience.

Two seniors, Kincaid and Catherine Orfanos, will provide a steady hand of leadership over a talented group of underclassmen, led by freshmen standout Julia Ronney and Bianca Bostrom.

Ronney picked up two bracket wins in her first semester of college tennis this fall and posted the best overall results on the team.

"The margins are small. We're a younger team, but I think the upperclassmen understand there are small margins," said Ascher. "In order to take advantage of small margins, you have to take care of details."

That attention to detail isn't lost on Kincaid, either, who says she hasn't quite picked up on the fact she is beginning her last lap around the Big Sky Conference. She is too busy trying to bring the best out in herself and her teammates.

"I'm just trying to play well for the team, so we get some good results and give a good experience to the younger players," she added. "I think sometimes we don't even know what we're capable of, but I do think we're capable of doing really well this year if we believe in ourselves."

Admission to this weekend's matches at the PEAK is free.

SCOUTING WAZZU

Washington State (2-0) comes to Missoula with some serious firepower, fresh off a pair of 7-0 wins over two of the three top teams in the Big Sky preseason poll, Idaho, and Montana State.

WSU's Michaela Bayerlova defeated Idaho's No. 39-ranked Marianna Petrei last week, the highest-ranked win by a Cougar player since 2016. That win earned Bayerlova Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.

Bayerlova missed much of the 2017 fall season at WSU while playing in professional tournaments, winning the $15,000 ITF Charleston event last October, defeating the world's 427th-ranked player, Montserrat Gonzalez in the final.

SCOUTING IOWA

The Hawkeyes (2-0) come to town off a pair of home wins over Creighton (6-1) and Northern Iowa (7-0) to open their season. It's the eighth season in a row Iowa has opened the year with a pair of wins.

Montana last played Iowa in the 2017 spring season when the Griz traveled to Iowa City on Feb. 5 and came away on the losing end of a 7-0 match. Iowa would go on to finish the year in the middle of the Big 10 pack at 16-9.

University of Montana Athletics

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Bianca Bostrom

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