Griz netters beat Cats 6-1 for Brawl of the Wild win

Saturday, March 11

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

Montana State

Griz netters beat Cats 6-1 for Brawl of the Wild win

3/11/2023 6:27:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

The women's tennis edition of the Brawl of the Wild lived up to its name as Montana scrapped its way to a 6-1 win over the Montana State Bobcats in Missoula on Saturday.

The Griz split the opening doubles matches before clinching the team point with a nail-biting 7-5 win on court three. They followed that up with singles wins on courts four, three, and two to clinch the victory at 4-0 and enjoyed the spoils of victory while the remainder of the dual played out to a 6-1 finish.

The marathon match lasted more than five hours and saw five of the six singles matches go to three sets, with two tiebreakers on the final two courts.

The win gives Montana its first Big Sky Conference victory of the season and improves the Griz to 4-8 overall and 1-2 in league play. Equally as important, it improves UM's record against MSU to 9-4 over the last decade, with the Griz now holding a 5-1 advantage inside the Peak Racquet Club in that stretch.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats fall to 3-8 on the year and 0-2 in conference play as the Griz get the leg-up on their neighbors to the east on earning a slot at this year's Big Sky championship tourney.

"That felt good. It was just a great match, and it was nip and tuck the whole way. The grit and determination was just phenomenal," said head coach Steve Ascher.

UM senior Olivia Oosterbaan played the clincher in both singles and doubles for Montana, finishing her career with three-straight regular-season wins over the Bobcats in the last three seasons.

"That one felt awesome, especially for it to be in Missoula. As a senior, you couldn't really ask for a better outcome today," she said.

"I think we all worked really hard. It was a total battle. It was all about perseverance and just keeping it going. So, I'm just really, really happy with the results today."

Montana won a nail-biter in the doubles round to start the match and take an early 1-0 team lead.

The Griz started on top with a win on court two, where Maria Goheen and Grace Haugen cruised to a 6-2 win over MSU's Heinzova/Cuquerella pair.

Soon after, the visitors leveled the score when Maria Garcia-Reberedo and Merte Van Baelen powered past Montana's top pair of Rosie Sterk and Lauren Dunlap 6-2, handing the Grizzly duo just their fourth loss as a pair this season.

In the rubber match on court three, the Griz were locked in a neck-and-neck battle for the doubles point. Olivia Oosterbaan and Hailey Murphy got out to an early lead before finding themselves tied 5-5 late in the set with the MSU's Chen/Jayasputra pair.

The Grizzly duo capitalized on Bobcat errors and added some powerful winners to take the final two games and win the doubles point 7-5, giving UM the momentum heading into singles.

In singles, redshirt-senior Lauren Dunlap added to Montana's score soon after, grinding out a win in a first-set tiebreaker before rolling in the second, 7-6 (5), 6-2. The quick win would turn out to be the only straight-set match of the day, with the two teams splitting in the remainder of the positions.

Dunlap improves to 2-1 in conference play for the Griz this season and moves to .500 against the Cats with a 3-3 career record against the rivals in her time at UM.

On court three, Hailey Murphy, who had been struggling with an injury all week in the lead-up to Saturday's dual, won her first set easily against MSU senior Mirte Van Baelen but suffered a narrow loss in the second before cruising to a win in the third set 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.

Oosterbaan, who was also not at her best after being sick during the week, solidified the momentum for Montana and clinched the win on court two to pick up her first conference win of the season.

After starting slow with a 3-6 loss in the first set, she bounced back in the second with a 6-4 win that saw her break two serves. She then took an early lead in the third set before fighting off a late comeback from MSU's Izabela Heinzova to win the match 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 and clinch the Montana victory.

"She's a great player. So, hats off to her. I just had to stay really positive and focus on what I could do to win the point and just play point by point. I couldn't really think of the outcome. I had to stay super focused and keep myself in it, and I'm really happy with how it turned out," added Oosterbaan.

In the battle of the Big Sky's two top freshmen from a year ago, Grace Haugen and Maria Garica-Reboredo – the reining Big Sky Freshman of the Year – proved again to be among the league's elite, locked in a heated battle on court one.

Haugen lost her first set 4-6, then found herself down 2-1 in the second before breaking Garcia-Reboredo's serve to take a 3-2 lead. She then broke serve again to go up 5-2 and was rolling to a win with a strong forehand and well-placed shots.

The UM sophomore would run out of gas in the third, however, falling 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, for MSU's only win of the day.

With the team win in hand and the pressure off, Maria Goheen and Rosie Sterk battled to third-set superbreaker wins on courts five and six to make the final score 6-1. Both lost their first sets before retaking momentum and storming back in the second and third.

Montana now returns to the road with momentum for pair of duals on the Wasatch front, continuing Big Sky play at Weber State on March 19 before facing Utah State the following day.

"I think a win like this, especially at home, is going give us so much confidence going down to Weber and later traveling to NAU. Those are going to be tough battles," said Oosterbaan.

"So, we're really excited and looking forward to the rest of the season for sure."