Griz cap fall season with impressive results in San Diego

Friday, November 8

San Diego, Calif.

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Montana

San Diego State Invitational

Griz cap fall season with impressive results in San Diego

11/11/2019 4:24:00 PM | Women's Tennis

COMPLETE DRAWS

By: Montana Sports Information

San Diego, Calif. - The Montana women's tennis team's successful fall tournament season reached its zenith this weekend at its final event of the calendar year, opening with five day-one wins and finishing with strong overall results at the San Diego State Invitational.

Just two weeks after three Grizzlies' advanced to the round of 16 at the ITA Regional Tournament, Montana followed up with another upstart performance in San Diego amongst a field that included the defending national champion Stanford Cardinal.

"You can feel their belief growing, you can feel their on-court intelligence in terms of making strategic adjustments growing, so they're going the right direction," said head coach Steve Ascher.

"And they're bonding so well. I think the team chemistry is really high. You can tell they're enjoying each other's company and enjoying competing. So, it's a fun time."

First-team All-Big Sky junior Julia Ronney picked up perhaps the biggest win of her career to date in her hometown of San Diego, knocking off the nation's No. 93-ranked (and regional top-10) Anna Reidmmiller from the University of Denver (6-2, 6-4) on Friday to open the tournament with a splash.

"To add that to her already built resume of going to the Sweet 16 at regionals was fantastic," said Ascher. "It was fun to see."

Grizzly freshman Olivia Oosterbaan continued her impressive form in her first year of college tennis, also picking up a first-round singles win in the Black draw. Oosterbaan bounced back for a three-set win over SDSU sophomore Agustina Rimaldi (3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5)) to clinch the win with an emotional second-set ace to advance to the second round.

Oosterbaan capped her weekend in a consolation draw with another win over an Aztec to go 2-1, this time defeating SDSU junior Abbie Mulbarger in another three-set marathon (4-6, 7-6(11), 10-5).

Another day-one win went to fellow UM freshman Maria Goheen who knocked off Air Force freshman Courtney Swift in three sets (3-6, 6-2, 6-4) before falling in the second round. She finished the tournament with a win in a Gold draw consolation match, beating Eastern Washington's Retana Gabuzyan in straight sets (6-4, 6-1) on Sunday to go 2-1.

Similarly, Grizzly sophomore Lauren Dunlap advanced to the second round in the Gold draw with a comfortable win over UC Irvine's Jessica Tsukiji (6-0, 6-2) before falling in three sets in the second round to Alex Kuo from Air Force in three sets (3-6, 7-6, 6-4).

Also picking up a pair of wins was Alex Walker, who played in a smaller round-robin bracket with four players, defeating Marta Heinen from Eastern Washington (7-6(5), 6-3) and Elizabeth Walsh of Northern Colorado (6-1, 6-0) for a pair of Big Sky victories.

In doubles, Montana picked up a round-one win with Goheen and Bianca Bostrom taking a 6-4 win over the Fitch/Alda pair from Air Force, highlighting an overall slow start to the doubles action for UM.

The Griz finished with a bang, however, with Montana going three-for-three on Sunday in consolation championships.

Oosterbaan and Ronney combined for a 6-1 win over UNC's Stanton/Keta pair in the Red doubles bracket. Goheen and Bostrom rebounded from a second-round loss to win the consolation final 6-3 over SDSU's Smith/Mulbarger pair. Walker and Dunlap also finished with a win, defeating Air Force's Warner/Becerra pair 7-5.

"That's a really good sign because we need to pick up our doubles, and we really did that on Sunday," added Ascher.

Montana now turns its attention inward for the final weeks of the semester before opening the spring championship duals season on Jan. 17 against Utah at Missoula's Peak Racquet Club.

"I'm excited. We've got two and a half weeks to train before dead week and finals, but we're excited to keep getting after it and preparing for spring," said Ascher.