Grizzly women open the season with pair of duals in Oregon

Just a day after University of Montana students returned to campus from winter break, the Grizzly women's tennis team dives right into the 2025 championship duals season, traveling to Oregon for a pair of matches this weekend.

The Griz officially begin the quest to repeat as Big Sky Conference champions with perhaps their biggest test on the year. Montana opens the season in Eugene, taking on the Oregon Ducks of the Big Ten at the Student Tennis Center on Friday at 4:30 p.m. (MT) in the season-opener for both teams.

UM then gets a preview of the upcoming conference slate with a nonconference dual against Portland State on a neutral court in Eugene, with opening serves set to go up at 11 a.m. (MT) on Saturday.

Coverage: Oregon will provide a live stats stream and live scoring when the Griz face the Ducks on Friday. A live video stream of each court will also be available on Saturday for the neutral site match against Portland State in Eugene. Links to all live coverage are available on the team's schedule page at GoGriz.com.

A Glimpse at the Griz: Montana is coming off one of the best seasons in program history where head coach Steve Ascher led them on an improbable run to a 6-2 conference record and a share of their first Big Sky regular season title in a decade.

With four players lost from that championship squad, Montana returns in 2025 with five new faces on the team but a core of key pieces, led by the reining Big Sky Freshman of the Year in sophomore Kelsey Phillips.

Also back to lead the Griz are a pair of seniors that each bring all-conference experience. Grace Haugen is back for her senior campaign after earning an ITA Mountain Region ranking as a freshman and battling her way through injury to earn All-Big Sky doubles honors as a junior. Also back is senior Rosie Sterk, who won a fall singles title in September and is a two-time all-conference doubles honoree.

Ascher brought in a mix of college experience and high school talent in this year's recruiting class, with two transfers and three true freshmen joining the program in the fall, including one four-star prep standout.

Piper Freeman came to UM after one year at Loyola Marymount in Los Angles, and Kaylin Kielty from the University of the Redlands each came to Missoula as sophomores in the fall. Monika Fizova of the Czechia, Olivia Moir of Melbourne, Australia, and four-star standout Kate Prichard of San Diego round out the true freshman that will be competing for time in the lineup with junior returner Shivika Agrawal.

With a host of new faces, Ascher, a three-time Big Sky Coach of the Year, heads to Oregon looking to make the first steps in finding a lineup that can compete for another title.

"I'm obviously excited to get going. We have such a new lineup and so many moving pieces in terms of the players, this weekend will be big as far as getting more information on the team. How are we going to develop the lineup as we work toward Big Sky play? Who's going to compete in which spots? How are we going to compete, and how it's going to look when there's pressure on. There's just so much to learn in these early season matches," said Ascher.

"I'm also just excited for them to go out and compete in the early part of the season and just give it their all, the freedom to go out and give it everything they can."

Montana was picked to finish fourth in this year's preseason Big Sky Coaches Poll and will play home matches against Portland State, Idaho, Eastern Washington, and the Brawl of the Wild match against Montana State in Missoula as they look to repeat as champions.

After the trip to Oregon, the challenging nonconference state continues, however, as the Griz head to the Front Range to face Colorado State and Air Force next week.

Grizzly women open the season with pair of duals in Oregon

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Players Mentioned

Shivika Agrawal

Monika Fizova

Grace Haugen

Kaylin Kielty

Olivia Moir

Kelsey Phillips

Kate Prichard

Rosie Sterk

University of Montana Athletics