Griz set for first home match of the year on Sunday

A full two months into the season the Montana women's tennis team finally comes home this week as the Griz host Portland State on Sunday, March 16, at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula.

It's a midseason Big Sky rematch with the Vikings for the Griz on their home turf, as Montana looks to avenge a week one nonconference loss to PSU on a neutral court in Eugene back in mid-January.

Montana enters the dual at 3-8 in the midst of a challenging nonconference slate, but more importantly sits 1-1 in Big Sky play as the defending conference co-champs look to make another dream run through the league.

The Griz are coming off a tough road trip to California where they fell at the hands of UC Davis and Sacramento State in the team's first outdoor and sea-level action of year as UM prepares to return to the conference tourney in Phoenix. Before that, however, Montana earned a gritty 4-3 win over Seattle U at Gonzaga and picked up its first league win of the year at Weber State.

The Vikings come to Missoula on a similar track at 3-5 on the season and 2-1 in Big Sky play. PSU most recently dropped a pair of matches on the Palouse, falling to Washington State and Idaho 7-0 each. Before that, however, they picked up a pair of league wins at home over Weber State (4-3) and Idaho State (5-2) in Portland.

Portland State also brings a familiar face back to the Peak, with Missoula native and former instructor and ITA college official Josiah Petersen now in his fifth season at Portland State after being promoted to head coach in February.

"We are excited to host our first home match of the season. The team has been competing well, and we are looking forward getting out and playing in front of our hometown fans. The fans make our experiences playing at home special, and we hope everyone comes out to the Peak and brings their energy and enthusiasm to help us kick-off our first of four home matches this season," said head coach Steve Ascher.

Opening serves for the college dual go up at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Admission to the Peak is open to the public and free of charge. For those unable to attend, links to live scoring can be found on the team's schedule page at GoGriz.com/WTEN.

HAUGEN'S HEROICS: Montana No. 1 Grace Haugen returns home for her first match in Missoula as a senior, emerging once again as one of the top players in the Mountain Region at 6-3 on the season with wins over Colorado State, Air Force, and Utah State among the highlights on her resume. In the first match of the year against Portland State she also cruised to a win over Viking No 2 Nene Uemura, 6-4, 6-2.

She will be looking to right the ship this week after falling in three of her last four matches against opponents from Gonzaga, UC Davis, and Sac State.

DYNAMIC DOUBLES: Haugen and fellow senior Rosie Sterk have also paced Montana on the doubles court this year as the team's No. 1 pair. The dynamic duo enters the home match against PSU sitting at 7-3 overall on the year and 2-0 in Big Sky play after picking up a big win over Sac State's No. 1 pair of Palina Saulevich and Weronika Ejsmont.

COOL KELSEY: Kelsey Phillips, the reigning Big Sky Freshman of the Year, has also been coming on strong as of late, clinching the Grizzlies' win over Seattle U in a three-set thriller and picking-up UM's only victory on the California trip with another three-setter over UC Davis. Phillips, a sophomore from Minnesota, has now won two of her last three and sits at 3-5 on the season.

FIRST TIME AT HOME: Montana's five underclassmen standouts will play their first-ever dual on their home courts at the Peak this weekend. Freshmen Monika Fizova, Olivia Moir, and Kate Prichard, along with sophomore transfers Piper Freeman and Kaylin Kielty will get the chance to show out for the hometown fans for the first time.

UP NEXT: Montana heads south for a two-match Big Sky split next week, traveling to Pocatello to face Idaho State in a league dual on March 21 before capping the trip with a nonconference match against Utah Tech on a neutral court the following day.

After a one-off road match at NAU on March 29, the Griz then return home to conclude the regular season with three-straight matches in Missoula. UM caps the regular season at the Peak, hosting Idaho on April 6, Montana State April 12, and Eastern Washington April 20.

The Griz will need to finish among the top six in the Big Sky standings to earn a trip to conference championship in Arizona in late April, putting extra emphasis on the final homestand.

Griz set for first home match of the year on Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Monika Fizova

Grace Haugen

Kaylin Kielty

Olivia Moir

Kelsey Phillips

Kate Prichard

Rosie Sterk

University of Montana Athletics