Griz in Nebraska to face Fighting Hawks and Cornhuskers

Friday, February 9

Lincoln, Neb.

Noon (MT)

Montana

North Dakota

Griz in Nebraska to face Fighting Hawks and Cornhuskers

2/8/2024 3:28:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Live Scoring/Video

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team continues its tough nonconference slate this weekend with another round-robin pair of duals against Summit League and Big Ten opponents at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

The Grizzlies (0-2) open the road trip with a neutral site dual against last year's Summit League runner-up North Dakota (1-5) on Friday, Feb. 9, at Noon (MT), at Nebraska's Dillon Tennis Center.

Montana caps the trip by taking on the Huskers (3-1), who enter the weekend boasting a top-25 doubles pairing, on their home courts at 4 p.m. (MT) Saturday, Feb. 10.

The Griz are coming off a two-week training block after opening the season in Spokane with a pair of competitive losses to Gonzaga (2-5) and Cal Poly (1-6) on week one of the new season.

"We're excited to get to go play again. We had a good experience at Gonzaga and have had a couple weeks to train, so we're excited to have the opportunity to play a couple good teams in North Dakota and Nebraska," said head coach Steve Ascher.

"We played with a lot of physicality against strong competition that first week, so it really drove our training and built that hunger to compete. The team has been putting in a lot of time and hitting ball well, so it's been a nice couple of weeks."

COVERAGE: Nebraska will have live scoring and video streaming for both of UM's matches at the Dillon Tennis Center, with links available on the team's schedule page at GoGriz.com. Follow the team on Instagram @montanagrizwten for updates from the trip as well.

A GLIMPSE AT THE GRIZ: Sophomore Hailey Murphy starred for Montana on the opening week trip to Gonzaga, going 2-0 in singles on court two against the Zags and Mustangs.

Senior Maria Goheen was the only other Grizzly to log a win on week one, beating Cal Poly's Kennedy Buntrock in three sets on court four.

Montana returns with plenty of experience in 2024, led by fifth-year seniors Olivia Oosterbaan and Maria Goheen along with fourth-year senior Ivayla Mitkova. But it's the youth of the team that could rise to the top of the lineup.

Freshman Kelsey Phillips competed at a national tournament over the winter break as the No. 2 ranked player in her age bracket from the state of Minnesota. Phillips played both matches at No. 1 singles and doubles in Spokane.

Junior Grace Haugen, who played on the No. 1 court for most of her sophomore season at UM, won a doubles title with her partner Rosie Sterk in Boise State's fall tournament, and is expected to once again play near the top of the UM lineup.

Sterk earned first-team All-Big Sky doubles honors as a sophomore in 2023, while Murphy and Oosterbaan earned a doubles honorable mention.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA: The Fighting Hawks are coming off an 11-13 season and a runner-up finish in the Summit League with a 5-2 mark, led by coach Tom Boysen, a former Nebraska assistant.

Last season UND was led by freshman Jule Schulte with a 6-5 record and the doubles pair of Andrea Jansson and Sapir Sela impressed with a 7-3 mark at the No. 1 spot.

The Fighting Hawks' only win of the 2024 season to date came at Air Force on Jan. 19, beating the Falcons 4-3. UND fell 3-4 at Montana State, and 2-5 against Seattle in a neutral match in Bozeman before beating Air Force and falling to Colorado State 2-5 in a trip to Colorado. North Dakota also logged road losses at Minnesota (1-6) and Milwaukee (3-4).

SCOUTING NEBRASKA: The Huskers enter the weekend coming off a 6-1 victory over Illinois State on Sunday to improve to 3-1 on the early season. Nebraska has also beat UC Riverside and DePaul 7-0 each in early January but fell to Harvard 2-4 to end the month.

The Huskers are led by doubles pair Ana Zamburek and Anfisa Danilchenko, currently ranked #25 in the nation. The duo holds a 7-1 record after defeating Harvard at the #2 spot.

UP NEXT: Montana will play its first home matches of the season next week, hosting Eastern Washington and Utah State in a pair of duals at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula.

The Griz host the Eagles in a nonconference match on Friday, Feb. 16, at 11 a.m. UM caps the round-robin Sunday against the Aggies at 10 a.m. on Feb. 18.