Dunlap picks up first career win in Griz loss to Pilots

Saturday, February 16

Portland, Ore.

10 AM (MT)

Montana

Portland

Dunlap picks up first career win in Griz loss to Pilots

2/16/2019 4:17:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team took another step toward hitting its stride in the Big Sky Conference season following a brutally challenging nonconference schedule, with freshman Lauren Dunlap picking up a win for UM in a 1-6 loss to the Portland Pilots on Saturday in Oregon.

While the loss puts the Griz at 0-8 on the season, Montana has been making steady improvement in the leadup to Sunday's opening league match, with several matches that could have gone either way against the Pilots of West Coast Conference, who improve to 4-2 on the season.

"We played more good tennis today, and it was a battle on their home court," said head coach Steve Ascher. "Overall, I think we played a solid match and I think we're ready to open conference play."

Montana jumped out to an early lead on doubles courts one and two, but the Pilots picked up a 0-6 sweep over Nathalie Joanlanne and Alex Walker on court three, and UP's Ramalle/Soares pair bounced back for a 6-3 win over UM's Dunlap/Dukic pair to clinch the point.

Dunlap then tied the match at 1-1 at the onset of the singles round with an impressive straight-sets win over the Pilots' Raphalle Leblanc (6-2, 6-3). It was the first college dual win of the Floridian's career at UM, and the first win on singles court two for the Griz so far this season.

"Lauren played really well against San Diego and Oregon too, but didn't get to complete those matches. She's been improving by the day, putting it all together, and it's starting to become a little easier for her now, which is awesome," said Ascher.

After Portland regained the lead 2-1 with a 0-6, 5-7 win over Bianca Bostrom on court three, Julia Ronney nearly answered right back for Montana on court one, forcing a third set tiebreaker. Ronney fell behind early with a 3-6 first set loss but rebounded for a strong 6-2 win in the second.

With the third set knotted at six, Ronney and UP's Jelena Lukic went neck-and-neck in the tiebreaker before Lukic pulled away for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-7 (4-7) win that put the Pilots up 3-1.

Joanlanne, Lidia Dukic and Walker would close out the match with losses on courts four, five, and six respectively to make it a 1-6 final score.

After over a month of nonconference tune-ups, the Grizzlies must now put the rubber to the road with the opening Big Sky match of the season set for Sunday morning against the Portland State Vikings, who have not played a match yet this season.

"We're treating it like every other match. We've played so may tough teams, you don't want to create some expectation because they're a Big Sky team without a national ranking," Ascher added.

"The biggest thing is we've got a lot of experience and we've been pushed every match. Let's take that experience and put it to use against Portland State. If we control the things we can control, I think we'll be alright."

Following another nonconference bout with Tulsa in Bozeman on Feb. 23, the Griz then return home for an important league match against Idaho State on March 8.