Griz rebound to beat New Mexico State 4-1

Saturday, March 23

Missoula, Mont.

9:30 AM

Montana

New Mexico State

3/23/2024 4:51:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team bounced back from a loss in doubles to earn a confidence-building 4-1 nonconference win over New Mexico State at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula on Saturday.

With the heart of Big Sky play on deck, the Griz opened a five-match home stand with their third win in five outings, and first win in Missoula this season to improve to 4-10 on the year (2-1 BSC). Following the first-ever dual between the Griz and Aggies, NMSU falls to 3-9 and remains at 0-1 in Conference USA action.

After a slow start in doubles gave New Mexico State an early 1-0 lead, the top of UM's singles lineup continued their winning ways to put Montana ahead. Hailey Murphy picked-up her 11^th win of the season on court one and Kelsey Phillips won her fourth straight on court two, giving the Griz a 2-1 lead and stealing the momentum inside the Peak.

Fifth-year senior Maria Goheen used the momentum shift to recover from a loss in her first set to take the third Grizzly win of the day. Fellow fifth-year Olivia Oosterbaan then clinched the win for the Griz in straight sets to complete the comeback. Grace Haugen was also on the comeback trail after losing her first set when the match was clinched.

"That was an awesome win. We've been doing well in doubles, so it was tough to lose that, but it gave us the opportunity to respond and see what we're made of," said head coach Steve Ascher.

"Haley and Kelsey have been doing really well and seeing them continue that trend was awesome and seeing Grace and Maria fight back after losing the first set was great too. Then it was good to see Liv (Oosterbaan) come out and crush her first set then have to problem solve in the second to get the win, but everyone did a great job responding and competing."

Montana entered the match having won three of their last four doubles points. Haugen and Rosie Sterk improved to 6-5 as a pairing with a dominant 6-0 win on court three over the Aggies' Moon/Zhu pair to give UM an early doubles advantage.

But New Mexico State responded with a 6-1 win on court three and then took the opening team point with a 6-3 win on court one to put the visitors up 1-0 heading to singles.

The comeback started in singles with two quick Grizzly wins on lines one and two. Phillips and Murphy both only lost one game in their respective second sets, with Phillips smashing a forehand winner to beat Anna Pinaivea 6-3, 6-1.

Murphy used her powerful forehand to her advantage all day as well and threw down an overhand volley to win against the serve, beating Natsuki Nishimura 6-2, 6-1 to flip the script and put Montana up 2-1.

It may not have been the clincher, but Goheen was the next Grizzly to finish with a decisive, come-from-behind win that all but sealed the team victory.

Things were looking grim for Montana early on as the senior got shut out in her first set, but some strategic adjustments in the second and third sets eventually led to a 0-6, 6-4, 6-3, win over Valeriia Ivanovskaia, firing a forehand volley to win the match and put UM up 3-2.

"She was grinding like she always does, but she adjusted and changed court position more, and that allowed her to take some more chances and be the aggressor to win some more points," said Ascher.

"I think she lost eight or nine deuce points in the first set and early part of the second, and that was weighing on her. So, we said, 'let's flip the script.' Then she got one, then two, and all of a sudden she was the one winning. She finally started pushing that boulder downhill. So, that was a sweet win."

Meanwhile Oosterbaan started her match on court five and quickly took control, breaking Dora Kurdi's serve early on to take a 3-0 lead in the first set before going on to clinch the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

UP NEXT: Montana returns to conference play following a bye week with the preseason favorite and perennial Big Sky powerhouse Northern Arizona Lumberjacks coming to Missoula on April 4. UM then faces Sacramento State, the team currently on top of the league table, a day later on April 5 at the Peak.