Phillips earns big win as Griz fall to ranked Hornets

Friday, February 27

Missoula, Mont.

9:30 AM

Montana

Sacramento State

Phillips earns big win as Griz fall to ranked Hornets

2/27/2026 4:25:00 PM | Women's Tennis

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By: Montana Sports Information

Grizzly No. 1 Kelsey Phillips earned one of the biggest wins of her career against nationally ranked Sacramento State, but the Hornets proved too strong overall, defeating Montana 6-1 in a Big Sky dual at the Peak Racquet Club in Missoula on Friday.

The loss in the conference opener puts UM at 2-6 on the season and 0-1 in league play while the No. 50 Hornets – picked to win the Big Sky in the preseason poll – improve to 7-4 and 1-0 in conference action.

"Hats off to Sac State. They're a really good team. They crunched us in a few places for sure, but I think we learned a lot. We gained some momentum and I think we gained some insight into the fact we can compete against good teams. So, it was a solid day all around," said head coach Steve Ascher.

Phillips' win was the highlight of the day for Montana. The Grizzly junior bounced back from a first set loss to defeat Hornet No. 1 Reese Walker, the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week and last year's conference tournament MVP, in a top-line singles thriller.

Walker came to Missoula on the heels of two nationally ranked victories over the top players from No. 52 Long Beach State and No. 22 San Diego State. But Phillips handed her just her fourth loss of the season, dominating the last two sets to defeat one of the top overall players in the league.

After getting beat in the first set 2-6, Phillips stole the momentum from Walker in the second, enticing her opponent to the net before landing a lob over Walker's head on the baseline to take the set 6-1. Phillips went on to overpower Walker in the third, 6-3.

With the win, Phillips (the 2024 conference Freshman of the Year) automatically enters the chat for All-Big Sky honors and moves to .500 on the season at 4-4 overall in singles and 1-0 in conference play.

"Super excited for Kelsey. She's been working her tail off, working on a lot of different things in her game, and she got to show them off today in a really big match. That was really cool to watch her come through in singles," Ascher added.

Phillips and her partner, freshman Meghna Anand, were on their way to another potential win in doubles, but their court one match remained unfinished at 4-4 when the Hornets clinched the opening point

Montana also had chances to win sets at the bottom of the lineup after Sac had clinched the victory. Kate Prichard held a 5-4 lead late in the first set, but would eventually fall in a tiebreaker to Emilija Pranyte on court five.

UM junior Paige Bott was the only other Grizzly to take a set off Sac State, beating Palina Saulevich 7-5 in the second set before falling in a third set tiebreaker. Bott had been winless in singles on the season so far for UM, leaving Ascher impressed with her growth.

"Paige had a really good game. She's upping the stakes, doing a better job mentally and taking better shot selection. Just playing within herself more," he said.

UP NEXT: The Griz continue conference play next week as UM takes to the road for a pair of matches against Idaho and Eastern Washington.