Hornets buzz past Griz 7-0

Saturday, March 17

Missoula, Mont.

9 AM

Montana

Sacramento State

3/17/2018 2:26:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team made life as difficult as possible for Sacramento State on Saturday, getting a strong start in doubles and pushing the visitors to a pair of three-set singles matches in a 7-0 Big Sky loss to the Hornets.

Riding the momentum of a win over North Dakota on Friday, the loss to the perennial Big Sky powerhouse drops the Griz to 2-5 in Big Sky play and 6-8 overall in a weekend split. The Hornets, in turn, bounce back from a 7-0 loss to Idaho on Thursday to improve to 4-9 (3-2 BSC) with a little over a month before the start of the conference championship.

Like they did against the Fighting Hawks, the Grizzlies looked energetic in the doubles round, building early leads on all three courts to put the visitors under pressure.

Sacramento State responded, however, winning four-straight games on court two for a 6-3 win over Nathalie Joanlanne and Julia Ronney.

Montana then tied the doubles round with UM's top pair of Cam Kincaid and Bianca Bostrom picking up a 6-3 win on court one, making court three the deciding match for the point.

Tied 5-5 late in the set, Catherine Orfanos and Eimear Maher dropped the final two games for a 7-5 loss, giving the point and the momentum to the visitors headed into the singles round.

The frustration carried over onto courts one and three in the singles round, where Ronney and Joanlanne dropped straight-sets matches to pin the Griz down 3-0 early in the match.

Junior Lidia Dukic made her return to the singles court for the Grizzlies, coming in and out of the lineup this season as she recovers from a wrist injury. In just her third match of the year, Dukic struggled to keep pace with Sac State's Jenna Dorian, falling 0-6, 2-6 on court five to clinch the match for the Hornets.

Bostrom, meanwhile, was on track for an upset over Sofia Gulnova, the Big Sky's second-ranked singles player on court four, in a three-set thriller, but couldn't hold a late lead as the visitor came away with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-7 (7-5) win.

Kincaid was also locked in a three-set grinder on court two, rebounding from a 6-4 loss in the first set to dominate the second set 6-2, forcing the tiebreaker. Knotted at 5, Kincaid also saw the match slip away in a 7-5 loss. The match was only the fourth singles loss of the season for Kincaid, who comes away from the weekend with a 7-4 record since January.

Montana now enters the toughest part of its quest to reach the Big Sky tournament, hitting the road for six-straight matches, with nonconference matches against Utah State, Boise State, and UNLV, and league matches against Idaho State, Weber State, and Southern Utah.

2017-18 Montana Women's Tennis
Sacramento State vs Montana (Mar 17, 2018)

Sacramento State 7, Montana 0

Mar 17, 2018 at Missoula, Mont. (Peak Racquet Club)
Singles competition
1. LOAIZA ESQUIVIAS, A. (SAC) def. RONNEY, Julia (UM) 6-3, 6-4
2. GONZALEZ, Maria (SAC) def. KINCAID, Cam (UM) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
3. WICKER, Sofi (SAC) def. JOANLANNE, Nathalie (UM) 6-3, 6-3
4. GULNOVA, Sofia (SAC) def. BOSTROM, Bianca (UM) 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
5. DORIAN, Jenna (SAC) def. DUKIC, Lidia (UM) 6-0, 6-2
6. DHAR, Shamika (SAC) def. MAHER, Eimear (UM) 6-3, 7-5

Doubles competition
1. KINCAID, Cam/BOSTROM, Bianca (UM) def. CHERNYETSKY, C./GONZALEZ, Maria (SAC) 6-3
2. LOAIZA ESQUIVIAS, A./DORIAN, Jenna (SAC) def. RONNEY, Julia/JOANLANNE, Nathalie (UM) 6-3
3. DHAR, Shamika/UGARKOVIC, Frana (SAC) def. ORFANOS, Catherine/MAHER, Eimear (UM) 7-5

Match Notes
Sacramento State 4-9 (3-2 BSC)
Montana 6-8 (2-5 BSC)
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,3,5,2,4,6)
Official: Delman, Schwartz