Thursday, January 29
Salt Lake City, Utah
4 PM
Montana
vs
Utah State
Photo by: Taylor Decker/ University of Montana
Women’s tennis hits the road for three duals
1/28/2026 6:31:00 PM | Women's Tennis
The Montana women's tennis team returns to early season action this week with two duals in the Beehive State and one nonconference match against a Big Sky foe.
The Griz (0-1) travel to Salt Lake on Thursday afternoon to take on Utah State (1-0) in a neutral site dual, then turn around Friday to face Utah (1-1) at the Eccles Tennis Center. UM opens the slate at 4 p.m. against the Aggies on Friday and will play the Utes the next day at 2 p.m.
UM then stops into Pocatello on the way home for an out-of-conference friendly against Idaho State on Sunday, Feb. 1, at 9 a.m. Links to live scoring for the Utah and Idaho State matches are available at GoGriz.com/WTEN. No live coverage of the Utah State neutral site dual will be available.
Montana heads south on I-15 looking for its first win of the season after opening the year 10 days ago against Gonzaga in Spokane. While GU swept the Griz 7-0, Montana took plenty of positives away from the match they will bring to Utah in preparation for the season ahead.
"It's a matter of building. This trip is about building, gaining experience, and competing against good teams. We want to give ourselves some opportunities and put ourselves in positions to win and see what happens," said head coach Steve Ascher.
"We just want everyone to think about how they're going to approach their match and how they're going to compete in that match. If we do that, we're gaining more knowledge, learning and growing, that will be fantastic."
Scouting the Griz: Montana travels south looking for its first win of the season after falling to the Zags. Playing in her fist college dual, freshman Meghna Anand was a standout for UM in that dual, taking Diana Yanotovskaya to a third set tiebreaker after winning her first set against the Bulldog senior.
Montana last faced Utah State in 2025, falling to the Aggies in a nailbiter 4-3 in Logan. Montana dropped the doubles round to USU, but rattled off wins on courts one, four, and six to make it a one-point match. Grizzly sophomore Kate Prichard was the only UM player to win that that day that is still on the squad. She beat USU's Ana Sabikova on court four 7-5, 6-4 to score for the Griz.
UM last faced Utah in 2023, with the Utes sweeping the Grizzlies 4-0 in a dual played to clinch.
Montana was last in Pocatello to face Idaho State during the fall tournament season when UM took a win in the Orange Main Draw of the ISU Invitational and Prichard cruised through her bracket undefeated in singles. Grizzly junior Kelsey Phillips teamed up with Anand to go a combined 7-2 in the orange draw, eventually beating ISU's Shalakhova/Shoybek pair to win the tournament.
Scouting the Aggies: The Aggies opened their 2026 season against the Utah Tech Trailblazers with a 4-3 victory in Saint George. Utah State won the doubles point and three different freshmen led the way in singles, with Terezia Mlkva, Chahd Tourkhani, and Sabina Pintea holding the Trailblazers to two sets.
Scouting the Utes: Led by former Weber State coach and two-time Big Sky Coach of the Year Ruth Ann Allen, Utah opened the year with a 3-4 loss at Santa Barbara before beating Idaho State 6-1, with victories on all but singles court six.
Scouting the Bengals: Idaho State is 0-2 on the season to date with losses at Boise State and Utah. ISU also hosts BYU on Saturday to give the Bengals a pair of home matches this weekend. Montana hosts Idaho State for its official Big Sky Conference meeting on April 5 in Missoula.
Up Next: The Griz return to the road on Feb. 6 and 7 for a pair of matches in Sioux Falls, facing South Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha in a neutral site meeting.
The Griz (0-1) travel to Salt Lake on Thursday afternoon to take on Utah State (1-0) in a neutral site dual, then turn around Friday to face Utah (1-1) at the Eccles Tennis Center. UM opens the slate at 4 p.m. against the Aggies on Friday and will play the Utes the next day at 2 p.m.
UM then stops into Pocatello on the way home for an out-of-conference friendly against Idaho State on Sunday, Feb. 1, at 9 a.m. Links to live scoring for the Utah and Idaho State matches are available at GoGriz.com/WTEN. No live coverage of the Utah State neutral site dual will be available.
Montana heads south on I-15 looking for its first win of the season after opening the year 10 days ago against Gonzaga in Spokane. While GU swept the Griz 7-0, Montana took plenty of positives away from the match they will bring to Utah in preparation for the season ahead.
"It's a matter of building. This trip is about building, gaining experience, and competing against good teams. We want to give ourselves some opportunities and put ourselves in positions to win and see what happens," said head coach Steve Ascher.
"We just want everyone to think about how they're going to approach their match and how they're going to compete in that match. If we do that, we're gaining more knowledge, learning and growing, that will be fantastic."
Scouting the Griz: Montana travels south looking for its first win of the season after falling to the Zags. Playing in her fist college dual, freshman Meghna Anand was a standout for UM in that dual, taking Diana Yanotovskaya to a third set tiebreaker after winning her first set against the Bulldog senior.
Montana last faced Utah State in 2025, falling to the Aggies in a nailbiter 4-3 in Logan. Montana dropped the doubles round to USU, but rattled off wins on courts one, four, and six to make it a one-point match. Grizzly sophomore Kate Prichard was the only UM player to win that that day that is still on the squad. She beat USU's Ana Sabikova on court four 7-5, 6-4 to score for the Griz.
UM last faced Utah in 2023, with the Utes sweeping the Grizzlies 4-0 in a dual played to clinch.
Montana was last in Pocatello to face Idaho State during the fall tournament season when UM took a win in the Orange Main Draw of the ISU Invitational and Prichard cruised through her bracket undefeated in singles. Grizzly junior Kelsey Phillips teamed up with Anand to go a combined 7-2 in the orange draw, eventually beating ISU's Shalakhova/Shoybek pair to win the tournament.
Scouting the Aggies: The Aggies opened their 2026 season against the Utah Tech Trailblazers with a 4-3 victory in Saint George. Utah State won the doubles point and three different freshmen led the way in singles, with Terezia Mlkva, Chahd Tourkhani, and Sabina Pintea holding the Trailblazers to two sets.
Scouting the Utes: Led by former Weber State coach and two-time Big Sky Coach of the Year Ruth Ann Allen, Utah opened the year with a 3-4 loss at Santa Barbara before beating Idaho State 6-1, with victories on all but singles court six.
Scouting the Bengals: Idaho State is 0-2 on the season to date with losses at Boise State and Utah. ISU also hosts BYU on Saturday to give the Bengals a pair of home matches this weekend. Montana hosts Idaho State for its official Big Sky Conference meeting on April 5 in Missoula.
Up Next: The Griz return to the road on Feb. 6 and 7 for a pair of matches in Sioux Falls, facing South Dakota and Nebraska-Omaha in a neutral site meeting.
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