Griz go winless in Nebraska

Friday, February 9

Lincoln, Neb.

Noon (MT)

Montana

North Dakota

2/10/2024 7:45:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team went 0-2 on its two-match trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, giving away an early lead in a narrow 3-4 loss to North Dakota on Friday before falling in a 0-7 rout to the hometown Huskers Saturday at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.

The pair of losses drops Montana to 0-4 on the season, while UND improved to 2-5 and Nebraska moved to 5-1.

The Griz came out on the wrong end of a dual against the Fighting Hawks that was about as close as a college dual can be, falling 3-4 on a neutral court.

How close? The opening doubles point was decided by a tiebreaker and in singles the match came down to a broken serve in the third set on the final court as North Dakota escaped with a win in the last three games of the match.

The Grizzlies started from behind to start the doubles round with UND taking a convincing 6-1 win on court three over seniors Olivia Oosterbaan and Maria Goheen. Montana punched back, however, when Kelsey Phillips and Hailey Murphy rolled to a 6-1 win over UND's Sela/Jansson pair on court one to tie the doubles 1-1.

With the result of the opening point hanging in the balance on court two, Montana pushed North Dakota to extra frames but couldn't close out the win.

Grace Haugen and Rosie Sterk held an early lead in the set, but UND's Schulte/Heinitz pair came back to force a tiebreaker. In the breaker, UM built another lead but an injury timeout gave North Dakota a chance to regroup and Schulte/Heinitz would go on to win 7-6 (5) to give the Hawks a 1-0 team lead.

In singles, Montana took the lead early with straight-set wins on courts six and one to go up 2-1 in the overall team score. UND then regained the lead 3-2 with straight-set wins of their own on courts three and four. UM then tied the match 3-3 with a three set, come-from-behind win on court five that left the dual hanging the result on court two.

Montana bookended the singles lineup with wins when Sterk got the Griz on the board first, beating Lucia Rizza on court six. Sterk won in straight sets over Rizza, 6-2 in the first and 6-3 in the second for her first win of the season.

At the top of the lineup, Phillips, a freshman, rolled to her first dual win as a Grizzly to put Montana up 2-1. Phillips downed UND No. 1 Sapir Sela 6-1, 6-3, to give the Griz the lead.

The Fighting Hawks then tied the match 2-2 with a win on court three. Haugen gave UND's Jule Schulte all she could handle in a straight-set loss, falling 4-6, 5-7 to knot the team score.

North Dakota then regained the lead in the last two-set match of the day when Nore Heinitz beat Goheen on court four 6-4, 6-2, bouncing back after the UM senior had built an early lead in the first set.

The win from Heinitz put UND up 3-2 in the team score, with the outcome hanging on results on courts two and five, both of which had extended into a third set, and Montana needing a win in both to secure the comeback.

Oosterbaan then put the Griz within striking distance, rebounding from a first set loss to beat UND's Aziza Aubin 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on court five to tie the team score 3-3. The win put Oosterbaan a 2-1 in singles on the season.

Trailing 2-5 in the third set, Murphy held serve to close the gap 3-5, needing to a break for a chance at a comeback win. Against the serve she went up 30-0 in the next game and kept clawing to get the break she needed, now trailing 4-5 and regaining the serve with a chance to tie the set.

It was not to be for Murphy and the Griz, however, with UND's Andrea Jansson winning the final point against the serve to win the sixth and final match for the Fighting Hawks 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, giving them the 4-3 team win.

It was the first loss of the season for Murphy, who entered the weekend at 2-0 after earning wins over Gonzaga and Cal Poly on week one.

On Saturday, Montana was no match for the Huskers, who beat the Griz 7-0 in straight sets on all but one court to take the 7-0 win.

The Griz fell behind early with two decisive losses in the doubles round and didn't win more than three games in 10 of the 12 sets played.

Goheen and Oosterbaan paired on court two in doubles and were neck-and-neck with Nebraska's nationally ranked Zamburek/Danilchecko pair, tied 4-4 when the Huskers clinched the round with easy wins on courts one and three.

In singles, Nebraska clinched the match quickly with straight-set wins on courts five, two, and six. On court five, Sterk fell to Maria Taranova 6-0, 6-1, on court two Murphy fell to Isa Gallego 6-0, 6-2, and on court six Ivayla Mitkova fell to Jillian Roa 6-1, 6-0 to hand the Huskers the team win.

Goheen won the only set of the day for UM, forcing a superbreaker on court three that she would eventually lose to Maja Pietrowicz 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (2) to keep Montana off the board.

The winless Grizzlies now prepare for their first homestand of the season at the Peak Racquet Club, set to take on Eastern Washington in a nonconference dual Friday, Feb. 16 at 11 a.m. and Utah State on Sunday, Feb. 18, at 10 a.m.