MONTANA STATE AND EASTERN WASHINGTON WOMEN AND MONTANA AND MONTANA STATE MEN ADVANCE TO SEMIS
4/25/2008
GOLD RIVER, Calif. — Consistency was the theme during the opening day of the 2008 Big Sky Conference Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships as all four quarterfinal matches ended with a 4-0 result. The four winning teams advance to the semifinals on Saturday at the Gold River Racquet Club.
In women’s action, Eastern Washington defeated Montana and Montana State bettered Northern Colorado. Montana State was the first team to record a victory in the day. The Bobcats picked up wins from Allison Fey and Katy Proietti at No. 1 doubles and Stephanie Jasper and Lauara Villegas at No.2 doubles to take a 1-0 lead. MSU then completed the match with three straight-set wins in singles play. Ali Griffin made the score 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Karen Groll at No. 4. Jasper extended the lead at No. 1 by defeating Tabatha Knop, 6-3, 6-2. The final point came from Remy Clark at No. 5 with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Luiza Xavier.
Eastern Washington also won the first two doubles matches to take an early lead. Kerstyn Dolack and Rachel Berger recorded the first win (8-5) and No. 3 and Kasey Knox and Amanda Mankovits clinched the point at No. 1 (8-6). Dolack recorded her second win of the match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mari Castello at No. 2. Knox downed Liz Walker, 7-6, 6-1 at No. 1 to give EWU a 3-0 lead but the final four singles matches were all sent to a third set. Berger was the first to finish her contest with a 6-3, 2-6. 6-1 win over Kayla Moyse at No. 6.
Montana State, which was seeded third, will face No. 2 Northern Arizona in the semifinals. Fifth-seeded Eastern Washington will take on No. 1 Sacramento State. Both matches will begin at 10 a.m.
On the men’s side. No. 6 Montana recorded the biggest upset of the opening day. The Griz outlasted Weber State in a very competitive match. Montana struck first by winning two of the three doubles matches. WSU won the first match when Henning Hipp and Nick Plum combined for an 8-5 win at No. 2. However, UM bounced back to tie doubles play when Mikolaj Borkowski and Colin Dektar won 8-5 at No.1 The deciding match came at No. 3 where David Cysneiros and Alexandre Gorj won 8-6. The only singles match to end in straight sets was at No. 1 Dektar bettered Hipp, 6-1, 6-4. Gorj rallied from a first-set defeat to win at No. 6 (4-6, 6-3, 6-3) over Spencer Marchant and Borkowski sealed the match with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5-3) win at No. 2 over Sascha Kiehne.
Montana State provided the final victory of the day with a sweep of Northern Arizona. The Bobcats picked up a pair of 8-3 wins in doubles play to move ahead 1-0. The first came from Jakum Dybala and Kyle McDonald at No. 1. After NAU pulled even with an 8-6 win from Jacob Tracy and David Flodberg, Fletcher Keyes and Pawel Turzanski won at No. 1 for MSU. The Bobcats then won three singles matches in straight sets. Dybala struck first with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Bradley Bristow at No. 2. The second win came from Turzanski at No. 3, 6-1, 6-4 over Flodberg. The final win was provided by Justin Hauck at No. 5, 6-1, 6-4 over Ryan Fraser.
Montana will now face top-seeded Sacramento State and Montana State will meet No. 2 Eastern Washington in Saturday’s semifinals at 2 p.m.
