Griz hang on to beat Weber in a 4-3 thriller

Saturday, March 27

Missoula, Mont.

9 AM

Montana

Weber State

3/27/2021 2:35:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

After a two-week layoff, the Montana women's tennis team picked up a 4-3 win against Weber State in a non-conference match at the PEAK Racquet Club in Missoula on Saturday.

The Griz and Wildcats had not faced each other since April 2019, when Montana led 3-1 before Weber rallied from behind to win the match 4-3. After a strong start from UM, it looked like history could repeat itself with the bottom of the Wildcat lineup taking three wins to make for tense moments.

But Grizzly senior Julia Ronney sealed the deal for UM with a tiebreaker win in the third set to clinch a thrilling victory for Montana.

This win helps UM get back on track after losing a tight 3-4 match against Portland State in mid-March. Montana improves its record to 5-4 overall and remains 1-1 in Big Sky play. Weber State falls to 3-9.

"It was a great moment to pull out the doubles point. We have had to work hard this year to figure that out. Coming in and pulling out the top three singles points were huge, too. We had to fight back, and problem solve getting into those third sets and pulling them out. It's a really good team win," said head coach Steve Ascher.

Gallery: (3-27-2021) WTEN: vs. Weber State (3.27.21)

In doubles, Montana took an early 1-0 advantage in the match after easing to a win, 2-1.

On court three, sophomore Maria Goheen and freshman Ivayla Mitkova were the first to finish with a quick 6-1 win over WSU's Kuo/Lombardi pair.

On court two, Weber State's Davies/Ferreria duo responded with a 6-2 win over Lauren Dunlap and Alex Walker that tied the doubles round 1-1 and left it up to each team's No. 1 doubles team to determine the point.

Ronney and her partner Olvia Oosterbaan outlasted WSU's Ukita/Salas pair, winning 6-3, and clinching the Grizzles' important first point, just the third for the Griz this season.

In singles, Oosterbaan got things started for UM when she cruised to the Grizzlies' first win of the day on court two, defeating Weber's Ana Morett Salas in straight-sets 7-5, 6-0, increasing Montana's team lead to 2-0.

Weber State didn't back down though. On court three, Dunlap held off WSU's Megan Lombardi 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in a close match to score another point for Montana, extending the team lead to 3-0.

WSU was able to get on the scoreboard after Megan Davies defeated Goheen in three sets (6-3, 5-7, 6-1) to make it a 3-1 team lead for Montana.

The closest match of the day came on court one where Ronney found herself up early after winning the first set 6-3. Weber State's Yuuna Ukita wasn't going anywhere, though, as she took the second set 6-4. The final set came down to a tiebreaker where Ronney came out on top 7-5 after a double fault from Ukita.

"It was huge, I think she (Ronney) had to battle today, her opponent was strong and played well, so I think she really had to dig deep and gut that match out. Being able to pull that out in a third set tie-breaker and be the deciding point is huge," said Ascher.

This point was crucial to Montana since Mitkova, and Walker lost their singles matches, which gave Weber State 3 points in total for the day, making Ronney's match the decider on the day.

The Grizzlies now travel to Bozeman to take on the Bobcats on April 4^th in another non-conference match before returning to Big Sky play on April 16 against Idaho.