Griz hang tough with Iowa Hawkeyes

Saturday, January 27

Missoula, Mont.

11 AM

Montana

Iowa

1/27/2018 6:24:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team squared off against its second power-five conference opponent in as many days, picking up an upset singles win on court six in a 6-1 loss to the Big 10's Iowa Hawkeyes in Missoula.

Freshman Eimear Maher defeated Iowa's Danielle Burich in a third set tiebreaker (5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6)) to pull out the first set win of the season for the Griz, highlighting a spirited UM performance that was closer than the score line would indicate.

"It was just a really fun match today," said head Coach Steve Ascher. "People were competing a little harder, digging a little deeper, and allowing themselves to be a little more open to ideas, tactics, and engagement in the process."

With the loss, Montana slides to 0-3 on the young season after dropping a doubleheader against a tough Washington State team on Friday. Iowa improves to 3-0, with wins over Creighton and Northern Iowa.

But despite taking a third-straight loss, the Grizzlies were a night-and-day different team on Saturday, building on the lessons of a tough outing against the Cougars.

"I think they were more relaxed and able to think about what they were doing instead of letting their nerves override the system," added Ascher.

"We talked about how we want to push each point and be engaged mentally in each point. That's not easy to do, but they did it. They came out great in doubles and pushed it there, and it kept going in the singles. We had great momentum."

The Grizzlies came out firing in the doubles point, taking brief leads on all three courts. The experience of the Hawkeyes eventually sealed the point for the visitors, however, with 6-3 and 6-4 wins on courts two and three. On court one, Cam Kincaid and Bianca Bostrom were within a point of Iowa, down 3-4 when the match was called.

Buoyed by a strong performance in the doubles, Montana again came out strong in the singles.

On court two, Kincaid jumped out to a 2-1 lead before being worn down by Iowa's Zoe Douglas (6-2, 6-3), while at the same time Julia Ronney went up 2-1 on court one. Griz junior Nathalie Joanlanne also jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on court 3 before falling 6-1, 6-1.

Ronney, Montana's true freshman standout, went on to nearly pull off the biggest upset of her collegiate career, pushing Iowa's Elise Van Heuvelen to a third set tiebreaker. Van Heuvelen came to Missoula as the defending Big 10 Freshman of the Year with a 13-9 singles record in her first year as a Hawkeye.

Ronney would give her all she could handle though. After dropping the first set, she came storming back in the second set to take a 6-2 win and force a tiebreaker. In the deciding round, Ronney built a 9-7 lead and forced two-straight match points. But the experienced Van Heuvelen rebound, and passed the Grizzly to make it 10-9, needing just one more point to seal the win.

With the match hanging in the balance, Ronney's emotions got the best of her as she tried to will a Van Heuvelen lob out of bounds with a verbal plea. The shot would land in bounds, however, and the match would be called in Van Heuvelen's favor for yelling during play 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9), and Ronney's upset bid would end in heartbreak.

With the dual already in hand for the visitors, Maher emptied her tank in the final match of the day, having already played a pair of marathon matches the day before against Wazzu.

Maher forced a tiebreaker after bouncing back from a first set loss to dominate the second set 6-3.

She then fell down early in the tiebreaker set 3-0, but battled back to tie it 3-all. She again bounced back from a three-point deficit to tie the break point 6-6, and then pulled ahead for the 10-6 victory in the tiebreak.

Montana now travels to Montana State this coming Friday for a nonconference matchup against the Bobcats, followed by a neutral site match against Seattle University in Bozeman on Saturday. Friday's match against the Cats starts at 2 p.m., while Saturday's match with Seattle is an early 9 a.m. start.

Tennis Match Results

Iowa vs Montana
Jan 27, 2018 at Missoula, Mont.
(PEAK Racquet Club)
Iowa 6, Montana 1

Singles competition
1. VAN HEUVELEN, Elise (IOWA) def. RONNEY, Julia (UM) 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9)
2. DOUGLAS, Zoe (IOWA) def. KINCAID, Cam (UM) 6-2, 6-3
3. LONG, Yufei (IOWA) def. JOANLANNE, Nathalie (UM) 6-1, 6-1
4. REIMCHEN, Anastasia (IOWA) def. ORFANOS, Catherine (UM) 6-3, 6-2
5. CRAWFORD, Montana (IOWA) def. BOSTROM, Bianca (UM) 6-2, 7-6 (7-1)
6. MAHER, Eimear (UM) def. BURICH, Danielle (IOWA) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6)

Doubles competition
1. KINCAID, Cam/BOSTROM, Bianca (UM) vs. DOUGLAS, Zoe/LONG, Yufei (IOWA) 3-4, unfinished
2. VAN HEUVELEN, Elise/CRAWFORD, Montana (IOWA) def. RONNEY, Julia/JOANLANNE, Nathalie (UM) 6-3
3. REIMCHEN, Anastasia/BURICH, Danielle (IOWA) def. MAHER, Eimear/ORFANOS, Catherine (UM) 6-4

Match Notes:
Iowa 3-0
Montana 0-3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,4,2,1,5,6)
Official: Delman, Schwartz T-3:55 A-40