Montana looking to raise the bar in Bozeman

The Montana women's tennis team may have started the 2018 season with three losses last week, but with the Big Sky season around the corner, those could be three of the most helpful matches of UM's season.

After squaring off against star-studded Washington State and Iowa teams to open the year, the Griz will take that experience to Bozeman this week for a pair of nonconference matches against Montana State and Seattle University on Feb. 2 and 3 at MSU's Anderson Tennis Center.

The Griz and Bobcats will get underway Friday at 2 p.m., and Montana will cap the weekend schedule with the Redhawks from Seattle at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

When Washington State came to town a week ago, their lineup included Michaela Bayerlova, the No. 3 newcomer in the nation who won 19 matches on the ATP/WTA tour circuits in the fall and took home $15,000 in prize money at an event in Charleston, S.C., to put her among the world's top 600 players. The Cougars also brought the No. 109 collegiate player in the nation to Missoula in Tiffany Mylonas.

The ranked pair made for tough sledding for the Grizzlies in the season-opening doubleheader, but despite the losses, Montana showed visible improvement the following day against the Hawkeyes.

Montana freshman Eimear Maher punctuated Montana's improved effort on the final match of the weekend, coming from behind to defeat Iowa's Danielle Burich 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6) for the first dual win of her career.

While no one likes to suffer a "valuable loss", the Grizzlies have proven they can hang with top opposition in their opening matches, and head to Bozeman looking to build on those performances.

"I think we set the bar really high in those first matches," said head coach Steve Ascher. "As a player, you always want to know what your bar is. Well, that's it. Whatever team we play, we want our bar to stay that high and keep surging toward it, and use every match to get better."

While it's billed as a nonconference tune-up, Friday's dual with the Bobcats will still carry the importance of a Brawl of the Wild match if Montana's goal is to improve on a good performance against Iowa and a disappointing 3-19 season in 2017.

Montana State was picked to finish third in the Big Sky preseason poll and enters the match at 1-2 on the year after taking a 7-0 hiding from Washington State on Jan. 20 and falling 7-0 to Gonzaga the following day. MSU's lone win of the season came at Lewis-Clark State in a 6-1 decision. The Cats will serve as a litmus test for UM this season, and UM has momentum.

The Griz will take on The Seattle Redhawks on the neutral court at Bozeman on Saturday morning to cap the weekend. Seattle heads to Bozeman at 1-4. One of their four losses came against Eastern Washington two weeks ago, whom Montana defeated 5-2 to cap the 2017 season.

Freshman Julia Ronney leads the Griz into battle this week alongside senior Cam Kincaid, who split time on the No. 1 court in the doubleheader against Washington State.

Ronney was again selected at No. 1 against Iowa, and nearly pulled off the upset of her career, pushing the defending Big 10 Freshman of the Year Elise Van Heuvelen to a third-set tiebreaker. Ronney was on the cusp of winning the break point but fell on a technicality to make the final score 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9).

Ronney was a star for the Grizzlies in the fall tournament season, winning the first college tournament she ever played in at Idaho State, and taking a consolation round championship at Boise State's Barb Chandler Classic. The San Diego native also advanced to the final of the consolation bracket at the Long Beach State Invitational.

Following this week's nonconference matches, the Griz will jump straight into conference play on Feb. 10 with a one-off Big Sky match against Portland State in Missoula.

Montana's official Brawl of the Wild match against Montana State is scheduled for March 4 in Missoula.

NOTES:

Montana is hoping to add more depth to the roster in the coming weeks with the return of junior Lidia Dukic to the lineup. Dukic missed the majority of the fall season while she recovers from wrist surgery, and is expected to return to the lineup soon.

The Griz are looking to return to the Big Sky Regular season championship, a feat they accomplished for the first time in program history in 2014. Head coach Steve Ascher was named Big Sky Coach of the Year for the second time in his career that season, an award he won previously in 2012.

With two of the toughest matches they will play this season already marked off on the calendar, the nonconference schedule doesn't get any easier for UM this season. Having already played at home against Washington State and Iowa, Montana will be tested on the road at Gonzaga, Utah State, Boise State, and UNLV while at the same time trying to climb the Big Sky ladder.

Montana will face eight nationally ranked players this season, and several other highly touted performers on a difficult schedule. Washington State boasted the ranked duo of Bayerlova and Mylonas, while Gonzaga's Nevada Apollo comes in ranked at No. 103.

The Big Sky's Idaho Vandals are also loaded this season with No. 39 Marianna Peteri on their roster, as well as the regional No. 10 pair of Badillos/Petri. The Northern Arizona pair of Lodewijks/Tomasetti is tied at No. 53 in the nation with the Tsuruta/Bourguignon pair at Gonzaga. Just behind them, the Lumberjacks also have the Granville/Walker pair ranked at No. 56.

Iowa's Elise Van Heuvelen came to Missoula as the defending Big 10 Freshman of the Year. In the Match on Jan. 27 Ronney defeated Van Heuvelen in the second set before falling in the tiebreaker 11-9.Montana will also face a UNLV squad this season which is led by Aiwen Zhu, who won Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors on Jan. 24.

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Players Mentioned

Lidia Dukic

Cam Kincaid

Eimear Maher

Julia Ronney

University of Montana Athletics