Griz split duals against Gonzaga and Seattle U

Friday, February 28

Spokane, Wash.

5 PM (MT)

Montana

Gonzaga

3/1/2025 10:16:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's team came from behind to beat Seattle U in a 4-3 thriller to earn a split in a pair of duals over the weekend in Spokane at Gonzaga's Stevens Tennis Center. The Griz lost to the Bulldogs on Friday afternoon 4-0 before grinding out the neutral site win over the Redhawks on Saturday.

With the split, the Griz move to 3-6 on the year and remain at 1-0 in Big Sky play. Gonzaga improves to 6-4, while Seattle U fell to 1-6.

After getting overpowered by Gonzaga to open the trip, the Griz needed a bounce back against Seattle after falling behind in doubles. They got the response they were looking for in singles, winning four of the six matches to earn a dramatic 4-3 team victory, with the final two matches not decided until the third set.

Grace Haugen rebounded from her first loss of the season against the Zags, beating SU's Lamija Avdic 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2 at position one to tie the match and improve to 6-1 on the year. Last year's Big Sky Freshman of the Year Kelsey Phillips was the clincher, beating Lillya Dimova 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-3, on court two to seal the 4-3 win.

"The team showed incredible resolve and determination today. Everyone really dug in and competed at such a high level. Seattle U is a great team and the final matches on courts 1 & 2 were played at such a high level with the team match on the line. It was a joy to watch Grace and Kelsey pull out three setters to finalize the team win after being down 2-3," said head coach Steve Ascher.

"This was a great test and what a solid way to indoctrinate the new players into what a hard-fought college match is. That was such a fun challenge."

The Griz opened the trip against Gonzaga with a win on doubles court one, but losses at the other two positions and three straight-set losses in singles gave the Bulldogs a 4-0 win on their home courts at the Stevens Tennis Center on Friday.

Haugen and Rosie Sterk pulled off their seventh-consecutive win as a doubles pair to get UM out to an early lead in the opening round. But quick 6-1 wins for Gonzaga over Phillips and Olivia Moir on court three and Kate Prichard and Shivika Agrawal on court two handed the Zags the opening team point.

Gonzaga got another team point soon after in the singles round, with Safien Boulonis beating Moir 6-2, 6-2, to make it a 2-0 dual.

Haugen then suffered her first singles loss of the year, falling 6-3, 6-4 to Emily Robertson on court one, snapping an unbelievable run of 10-straight dual wins dating all the way back to April 14 of last season.

Gonzaga then clinched the win on court two when Norham Hesham topped Phillips 6-3, 6-4 to make it a 4-0 final. Left unfinished were Sterk, who dropped her first set but was tied in the second when the match was called, Kate Prichard who was leading her second set at clinch, and Agrawal who was also leading in the second when time ran out.

Against Seattle, Haugen and Sterk's doubles streak was halted as the UM No. 1 pair fell to SU's Avdic/Micta combo 6-2. The Redhawks clinched the doubles point on court two with a 6-3 win from the Dimova/Nazarenko pair over Agrawal and Prichard.

In singles, Sterk raced out to a 6-2, 6-3 win on court three to knot the team score 1-1, before Seattle retook the lead with a win on courts four and six to go up 3-1.

Moir, a freshman, got the Griz back in the win column on court five, beating Daria Nazarenko 6-3, 6-4, to make the team score 3-2 in the Redhawks favor, with the deciding matches on courts one and two heading to third sets.

Haugen knotted the match 3-3 on court one, dominating Avdic in the first set then falling in a second set tiebreaker before pulling away in the third to make it 3-3 Griz.

Phillips clinched the team win with a bounce-back victory on court two, losing her first set to Dimova in a tiebreaker then pulling out a narrow win in the second before rolling to victory in the third to make the final team score 4-3.

Montana now prepares to hit the road to California where a nonconference match against UC Davis awaits and a conference match against the nationally ranked Sacramento State Hornets on March 7 and 9, respectively.