Griz netters drop two in Salt Lake

Saturday, February 4

Salt Lake City, Utah

4 PM

Montana

Utah

Photo by: Derek Johnson

2/5/2023 2:29:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 UM-Utah Box Score UM-UC Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana women's tennis freshman Hailey Murphy picked up a straight-set win against her opponent from Cincinnati on Sunday, highlighting a two-match weekend for the Grizzly netters in Salt Lake City.

UM went 0-2 on the trip, falling to the hometown Utah Utes 0-4 Saturday and the Bearcats of Cincinnati 1-4 Sunday morning in a pair of duals played to clinch at Utah's Eccles Tennis Center.

Montana slides to 0-5 in the early season, while Utah improves to 5-2 after beating the Bearcats on Saturday. Cincinnati moves to 2-4 after beating UM in the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

In a strong showing for the top half of the Grizzly lineup, Murphy picked up the only individual win for the Griz, beating Cincinnati senior Maria Santilli 6-3, 6-4 on court three.

"We continued to grow and showed fight and determination against two strong teams," said head coach Steve Ascher.

"The players are putting in all-out effort and learning to stretch themselves. I can't stress how important it is to play these great teams and take honest evaluations of where we're at and where we need to go."

Montana started the weekend strong against the Utes, with Murphy and Grace Haugen just two games shy of leading the Griz to an upset in doubles.

Rosie Sterk and Lauren Dunlap came through with a 7-5 victory over Utah's Townsend/Horwood pair on court two to put UM within striking distance. The Utes clinched the opening point on court one, however, when Murphy and Haugen dropped a narrow 4-6 decision to Utah's Goncharova/Tattini pair.

Haugen carried the momentum into singles, winning her first set on court one 6-2 over Katya Townsend to force a third frame. Meanwhile, on court two, Olivia Oosterbaan was also pushing her match against Madison Tattini into a third set, leading 4-1 in the second frame.

Both matches would remain unfinished, however, with the Utes picking up quick bottom-of-the-lineup wins on courts six, five, and four to seal the 4-0 team win.

In the Sunday matinee against the Bearcats, Murphy and Haugen, UM's freshman/sophomore combo from Canada, once again led the Griz in doubles, falling 6-4 on court one to UC's Flanagan/McLay pair in the most competitive match of the opening round.

Haugen was scrappy in her court one singles match against Elizabeth Pendergast, narrowly falling in the first set 5-7 before running out of gas in the second 0-6, putting the Bearcats up 2-0 in the team count.

Murphy, a native of Calgary playing her first year of college tennis, got the Griz on the board next, overpowering Santilli 6-3, 6-4 on court three for UM's first win of the weekend.

"Hailey stepped up and played great all weekend. Against Cincinnati, she was able to control the match and put her opponent against the ropes. It was a great win," added Ascher.

Straight-set wins from the Bearcats on courts six and five would put them up for good, however, as the Griz return home following the 1-4 team loss.

Montana now gets set to face Lewis-Clark State in a pair of matches and a one-off dual against Whitman in Lewiston, Idaho, next week as the Griz seek to pick up their first team wins of the season heading into conference play.