Prichard’s clinch against the Cats leads to Player of the Week honors
4/16/2025 9:38:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Freshman Kate Prichard picked a heck of a time to earn her first career Big Sky Conference singles win.
With the Montana women's tennis team trailing rival Montana State 2-3 at home in arguably the biggest match of the year, it was two freshmen at the bottom of the lineup that put the Griz on their backs and willed them to a 4-3 victory over the Cats on Saturday.
Olivia Moir teed up the Brawl of the Wild victory, tying the match 3-3 with a three-set win on court five.
Prichard then drove the upset home, clinching the comeback for the Griz in three sets with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win over Bobcat senior Andrea Cuquerellard to secure Montana's third-straight win over MSU.
It was the San Diego native's first clinch of her college career as well as her first Big Sky singles win.
"We are so excited for this honor for Kate and the team this week. They competed so well in every singles position against the Cats," said head coach Steve Ascher.
"The table was set for an unbelievable finish to the match and Kate played with such determination and fight for over two hours, then winning the last two games to pull out her match and the victory for the Griz. It was a story book ending to the match."
Montana trailed Montana State for virtually the entire dual after being swept in the doubles round and splitting the top four singles matches, entering the home stretch down 2-3 as the final two matches took the court.
The Griz were able to capture momentum at the Peak Racquet Club, however, forcing five of the six singles matches to a third set. Moir and Prichard rode that energy to a win for UM.
Montana now prepares to close out the regular season with a dual against Eastern Washington at the Peak on Easter Sunday needing a decisive victory and some help from the Eagles against Montana State to advance to the Big Sky championship tournament in Phoenix at the end of the month. Opening serves to the UM/EWU match go up Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
With the Montana women's tennis team trailing rival Montana State 2-3 at home in arguably the biggest match of the year, it was two freshmen at the bottom of the lineup that put the Griz on their backs and willed them to a 4-3 victory over the Cats on Saturday.
Olivia Moir teed up the Brawl of the Wild victory, tying the match 3-3 with a three-set win on court five.
Prichard then drove the upset home, clinching the comeback for the Griz in three sets with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win over Bobcat senior Andrea Cuquerellard to secure Montana's third-straight win over MSU.
It was the San Diego native's first clinch of her college career as well as her first Big Sky singles win.
"We are so excited for this honor for Kate and the team this week. They competed so well in every singles position against the Cats," said head coach Steve Ascher.
"The table was set for an unbelievable finish to the match and Kate played with such determination and fight for over two hours, then winning the last two games to pull out her match and the victory for the Griz. It was a story book ending to the match."
Montana trailed Montana State for virtually the entire dual after being swept in the doubles round and splitting the top four singles matches, entering the home stretch down 2-3 as the final two matches took the court.
The Griz were able to capture momentum at the Peak Racquet Club, however, forcing five of the six singles matches to a third set. Moir and Prichard rode that energy to a win for UM.
Montana now prepares to close out the regular season with a dual against Eastern Washington at the Peak on Easter Sunday needing a decisive victory and some help from the Eagles against Montana State to advance to the Big Sky championship tournament in Phoenix at the end of the month. Opening serves to the UM/EWU match go up Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
That's the CLINCHER over the CATS from Kate Prichard!! 😤#GoGriz pic.twitter.com/vyJtwOaUu2
— Montana Griz Women's Tennis (@MontanaGrizWTEN) April 13, 2025
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