Utes, Gophers in Missoula as Griz open duals season

The Montana women's tennis team jumps in the deep end of yet another of the most challenging schedules in program history on Friday, opening the season at home against the Utah Utes and Minnesota Golden Gophers January 17 and 18 in Missoula.

The Griz will knock the lid off the duals season with a doubleheader against the Pac-12's Utes with first serves going up at 9 a.m. and the second match of the day starting at 3 p.m. The Griz then cap the opening weekend of the year with a one-off dual against the Gophers on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. On Sunday, the Utes and Gophers will play a neutral-court dual starting at 9 a.m. as well.

All four matches will be played on the indoor courts at the Peak Racquet Club south of Missoula on Blue Mountain Road. The events are free of charge and open to the public. Live scoring of all three matches can be found at GrizStats.com.

The 2020 Griz: School at the University of Montana has been back in session for the spring semester for less than a week, and the Grizzlies are wasting no time getting the season going by hosting a pair of nationally-ranked teams to open the schedule for the third-straight year.

Led by first-team All-Big Sky junior Julia Ronney and a pair of standout freshmen, the Griz enter the weekend coming off a strong fall campaign that saw the team make a sweet 16 run at the ITA Mountain Regional.

Despite the short turnaround time from the start of school to the start of the season, Ronney says the team is ready to pick up where it left off in the fall and prepare to build on last year's 4-6 Big Sky record.

"Surprisingly, and thankfully we've all been playing really well this week. Typically, when you come back from break you're a little rusty, but the first day back we were like, wow, that was a really good practice. So, we're excited," said Ronney, who went 7-1 in conference play last season.

"We're all feeling good coming off that fall season. Hopefully we'll take that into these matches and build a bit of momentum."

And therein lies the point of starting the season against a pair of teams that finished the 2019 season ranked No. 44 and No. 61, respectively. They say "to be the best you have to beat the best," and that's just what the Grizzlies are looking to do.

"Preparing against this level will help us get used to that rhythm and pace, and you go into matches later on, and it should hopefully help us for Big Sky play," added Ronney.

With rising expectations in Missoula, Montana enters the year picked to return to the conference championship tournament for the first time since 2015, selected by the league's coaches to grab the final spot in the tourney at No. 6.

To get there, they'll test their mettle, not only against Utah and Minnesota, but another gauntlet nonconference schedule featuring six teams that finished ranked in the nation's top-75 last year, seven teams from power five or group of five schools, and a host of nationally ranked players. That level of talent reaches into conference play this year too, with Northern Arizona's Chiara Tomasetti, currently the No. 57 ranked player in the country.

While the Griz will still be a young team in 2020 with only two upperclassmen on the roster, the team's youth looks to have already proven it can compete at the highest levels, with freshman Olivia Oosterbaan advancing to the round of 16 at the ITA Regional as well with a big upset over nationally-ranked Izumi Asano of UNLV.

Similarly, Grizzly freshman Maria Goheen also had a nice fall with some deep runs in two of the first fall tournaments in her career. Junior Bianca Bostrom also returns for UM after picking up an All-Big Sky honorable mention in doubles last season and will provide the team with a steady upperclassman leadership presence.

With two of the most difficult matches of the season right out of the gates, Ronney says the home-court advantage will be hugely helpful for the Griz as they attempt to return to the top of the conference standings.

"Preparing against that level will help us get used to that rhythm and pace, and you go into matches later on, and it should hopefully help us for the Big Sky Conference," Ronney added.

"Having the home crowd, home courts, and home advantage helps immensely. We're comfortable here, we have great support in the community, so hopefully a lot of people come out, so having that energy going for us will help for sure."

Scouting the Utes: The Utes come to Missoula at 2-0 on the young season after sweeping Southern Utah last week 7-0, 5-0 to open their account. Under first-year head coach Ric Mortera, the Utes are looking to advance to the NCAA tournament after narrowly missing out last year in a 13-11 season.

Utah will be led in doubles by the nation's No. 24-ranked doubles team in sophomore Madison Tattini and senior Whitney Hekking.

Montana will also have to deal with a familiar face in the Utah lineup, with the reigning Big Sky Freshman of the Year Madeline Lamoreaux transferring to Salt Lake from Eastern Washington in the offseason. Lamoreaux earned first-team All-Big Sky honors for a freshman season that saw a 14-8 singles record and 15-5 record in doubles play while playing in the No. 1 slot for EWU. Lamoreaux had a stellar fall campaign, going 8-2 in singles play which included going undefeated at the Miami Invite.

Scouting the Gophers: Minnesota opens its season against the Grizzlies on Saturday at the Peak after finishing the 2019 season at 14-11 and at No. 8 in the Big Ten Conference standings. Minnesota is led by former Georgia Tech standout Dalila Said who previously advanced to the sweet 16 of the ultra-competitive ITA Southeast Regional in 2018.

Up next: After a two-week hiatus, the Griz will once again need the home-court advantage when they host Grand Canyon out of the WAC in Missoula on February 1.

Utes, Gophers in Missoula as Griz open duals season

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Bianca Bostrom

Maria Goheen

Olivia Oosterbaan

Julia Ronney

University of Montana Athletics