Griz split weekend duals with Warriors and Cougs

Saturday, February 21

Lewiston, Idaho

11 AM

Montana

Lewis-Clark State

2/22/2026 5:12:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's tennis team split a pair of matches on the Palouse over the weekend, taking care of business in a 6-1 win over NAIA Lewis-Clark State in Lewiston on Saturday before falling to the Pac-12's Washington State 1-6 in Pullman Sunday.

The Griz moved to 2-5 on the season with the start of conference play around the corner. LC State dropped to 4-3 after the UM match, while the Cougars improved to 5-3 holding three wins over Big Sky teams and a loss to Sac State among them.

Montana started the weekend trip west with a clean win over the Warriors, sweeping the doubles round before winning five of the six singles matches – each in straight sets.

The top of UM's lineup overpowered LCSC, with Kelsey Phillips and her doubles partner shutting-out the Monnayoo/Gettmann pair 6-0 on court one to pace the Griz to a doubles win. Phillips lost just two games on the day after beating Lulu Monnayoo 6-0, 6-2, on court one singles, and Anand lost just three, beating Rayana Shah 6-1, 6-2, on court two singles to put a pair of team points on the board for the Griz.

Monika Fizova went undefeated on the day as well, pairing up with Shivika Agrawal for a 6-2 win on court three doubles over the Shah/Liebenberg pair and pulling out a first set singles win in a tiebreaker before going on to dominate Gwyn Heim 7-6(3), 6-0. For UM's third singles win.

Kate Prichard and Kamila Slovakova also pulled out strong singles wins, with Prichard beating Rylie Gettmannn 6-1, 6-1 on five, and Slovakova beating Carisa Liebenberg 6-2, 6-2, on court six.

Kaylin Kielty and Paige Bott also earned a doubles win, beating the Govea/Montero pair 6-3 on court two. Bott would suffer UM's only singles loss of the day, falling behind early to Naiara Montero early and coming up short in a three-set comeback 2-6, 6-4, 4-6.

Against the Cougs on Sunday, Montana let an upset in the doubles round slip through its fingers as WSU seized the momentum and ran off with a 6-1 win. Montana's only win over the home team came in a court six walkover with an injured player.

Phillips and Anand continued their standout weekend with a huge 6-1 win on court one doubles over the Murphy/Kanemaki pair to put the Griz in with a shot of an upset.

Meanwhile, Montana was on pace to clinch the opening team point with Agrawal and Fizova running out to a 5-3 lead with serve over WSU's Sande/Puvill pair on court two, needing just one more game for the upset. But the Cougar duo battled back, rattling off four straight games to complete the comeback and beat the UM pair 7-5 to give Washington State the win in doubles round.

Anand kept the momentum up in singles, winning eight games in a 6-3, 7-5 loss on court two against Maxine Murphy for the Grizzlies most competitive match. Agrawal also won seven games in her loss on court four and Fizova won six in a straight set loss on court three as well.

"We started off strong pushing Washington State to the brink in doubles. Kelsey and Meghna played a great match and got us going and Shivika and Monika battled as well," said head coach Steve Ascher.

"Singles saw some tight matches with Shivika, Meghna, and Monika stretching out their matches. Great to see the players problem-solving and finding ways to win one more point and then one more point. Growth is the key in playing these good matches."

UP NEXT: Montana returns home for a challenging start to Big Sky Conference play, taking on Sacramento State on Friday, Feb. 27, at the Peak Racquet Club at 9:30 a.m. The Hornets have had a strong start to the season, listing a 4-3 win over Washington State on their nonconference resume already.