Griz cap road trip with 3-4 loss to Utah Tech

Saturday, March 22

Pocatello, Idaho

10 AM

Montana

Utah Tech

Shivika Agrawal of the Montana Grizzlies hits the ball during a match against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Feb. 16, 2024 at the PEAK Racquet Club in Missoula, Montana.

Photo by: Coral Scoles-Coburn/University of Montana

3/22/2025 7:40:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team rested its top two players in favor of getting reps for the lower order in a 4-3 loss to Utah Tech in a nonconference dual on a neutral court in Pocatello, Idaho, on Saturday.

Grace Haugen, one of the top players in the Mountain Region this season, played doubles but sat out singles, and last year's Big Sky Freshman of the Year Kelsey Phillips took the whole day off as the shorthanded Griz fell to 3-11 on the season. The Trailblazers improve to 3-9 with the win.

The loss caps a two-match trip to Pocatello that saw the Griz fall to Idaho State 1-6 on Friday at Reed Gym.

Montana opened the match with a win in the doubles round, the Grizzlies first opening point in their last eight matches. Haugen and her partner Rosie Sterk continued their dominant play on court one, improving to 9-4 together with a win over Tech's Zurita/Inouye pair to give UM an early lead in the round.

After a loss on court three tied the round, Montana's Piper Freeman and Kate Prichard pair pulled out the point in a tiebreaker, beating the Sampere/Bustos pair 7-6 (1) to put the Griz up to a 1-0 team lead.

With only five players in singles, however, Montana found itself essentially tied 1-1 in the team tally after a forfeit on court six.

Olivia Moir went above .500 on the season at 5-4 with a straight set win on court three, 6-3, 6-4, over UT's Nutsa Tsintsadze. Shivika Agrawal also got her first D-I win of the year, beating Laura Coulome 6-4, 6-4, on court five in the final match of the day to make the team score 4-3 in favor of the Blazers.

"That was a good response from the team today. I'm proud of how we found a way to win a tight battle in doubles. In singes we brought good energy and were focused on developing points better. Exciting to see Olivia and Shivika play some good tennis and step up to win their singles matches as well," said head coach Steve Ascher.

Montana's challenging road schedule continues next week as the Griz travel to altitude in Flagstaff to take on Northern Arizona, thus far undefeated in Big Sky play at 4-0 and 9-3 overall on the season.

UM will then play its final three matches of the regular season at home, taking on Idaho April 6, Montana State April 12, and Eastern Washington April 20.