Griz fend off Vandals in 5-2 thriller

Sunday, March 26

Missoula, Mont.

10:30 AM

Montana

Idaho

3/26/2023 6:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team earned a gritty 5-2 Big Sky Conference win over Idaho on Sunday at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula, its first over the Vandals since 2014.

The victory improves the Griz to 5-10 on the season and 2-3 in conference play while keeping them undefeated at home after beating Montana State two weeks ago.

In a match not decided for nearly four hours, Montana was again outstanding in doubles, winning its fifth-straight opening point in a marathon tiebreaker on court two.

In singles, UM played without two of its regulars in the lineup, with Lauren Dunlap and Rosie Sterk sitting out after winning in doubles as they battle sickness. Even so, the Griz and Vandals split matches on the top four courts, with the top two matches going to a third set to leave the final outcome on a knife edge.

Freshman Shivika Agrawal entered the lineup for Dunlap and came through big time on court five, clinching the win for UM with the first Big Sky victory of her career.

Junior Ivayla Mitkova came in for Sterk and also picked up her first conference win of the season on court six to make it a 5-2 final score in favor of the Griz.

"It was really cool to see us play well in doubles again. These are the heart attack kids. They're just finding ways to wiggle their way out of tricky spots and earn the doubles point, which is huge," said head coach Steve Ascher.

"I think everybody competed well. We've been doing that consistently, but when you have a couple people out with sickness and have Shivika and Ivayla step up and play really well to earn a couple more points for the team, that's special."

Gallery: (3-26-2023) WTEN:: vs Idaho

Despite fighting off sickness, Dunlap and Sterk battled their way to a doubles win to improve their Big Sky-best record to 11-4 as a pair, dominating Idaho's Beckx/Davis pair 6-3 on court one for UM's first win of the day.

With a Vandal win on court three, it was up to Grace Haugen and Maria Goheen to bring Montana to 4-1 in conference play in doubles, and they were up to the task in an epic finish to the round.

Finding themselves down 5-4 with the team point on the line, Haugen's big serve helped tie the match 5-5 before the pair broke Idaho's serve to take a 6-5 lead. But the Griz then suffered a double fault to send the set to a tiebreaker at 6-6.

Idaho then built a 4-2 lead in the breaker on some near misses from UM, but Haugen and Goheen clawed back and cut their lead to 5-4. Some more big serving from Goheen put the Griz in front 6-5 with two-straight points, but UI was right there again to take advantage of UM errors and hold serve to go up 7-6.

After more back-and-forth, it was Haugen again who used her serve to pick up two-straight points before Goheen sealed the win 11-9 in the tiebreaker, giving the Griz the momentum heading into singles.

In singles, Montana freshman Hailey Murphy extended the Grizzly team lead, rolling to a 6-1, 6-1 win on court three over Rachelle Starreveld to put UM up 2-0.

The Vandals then got on the board when Valentina Rodas bounced back from a second-set shut-out to beat Olivia Oosterbaan 6-2, 0-6, 6-2.

Goheen kept the momentum rolling from doubles for a quick win on court four, beating Selin Sepken 6-3, 6-2 to put UM up 3-1, needing one more victory to clinch the team win.

Agrawal took court five and delivered that win for the Griz, dispatching Jayanne Palma 6-3, 6-1 to put UM up for good 4-1, with the Chandler, Ariz., native moving to 1-0 in conference play for her career.

Meanwhile on court one, Haugen was locked in what would be the match of the day against Annabel Davis. After dropping the first set, Haugen found herself down 4-1 in the second but came roaring back to take a 6-5 lead before finally winning the set in a 7-3 tiebreaker.

It was another back-and-forth battle in the third, but it was eventually Davis who would come out on top in a thriller, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-4, to make the team score 4-2.

Mitkova put the cherry on top for UM, winning the last match of the day in straight sets 6-3, 6-5 to make the final score 5-2.

UP NEXT: Montana takes to the road for the final time in the regular season next week. The Griz will have their hands full as UM heads south to take on the nationally ranked NAU Lumberjacks at attitude in Flagstaff on Friday, March 31.

The team then returns home for the final weekend of conference play before the Big Sky tournament, looking to book its ticket to Phoenix with duals against Portland State and Eastern Washington on April 7 and 9.