Bobcat Women’s Tennis Squad Splits Pair in Rose City

Friday, February 15

Portland, OR

TBA

Montana State University

Portland

Ellie Crum remained perfect on the season winning two matches at No. 4 singles over the weekend in Portland.

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

2/18/2013 4:03:00 PM | Women's Tennis

The Montana State women’s tennis team split a pair of road matches over the weekend, defeating Big Sky Conference rival Portland State 4-3 and dropping a 6-1 non-conference match to the University of Portland.

By: Tom Schulz

The Montana State women's tennis team split a pair of road matches over the weekend, defeating Big Sky Conference rival Portland State 4-3 and dropping a 6-1 non-conference match to the University of Portland.

Montana State (3-1, 2-0) opened the weekend dropping a 6-1 decision to the Pilots. MSU's lone win came at No. 4 singles, where Great Falls native Ellie Crum posted a 6-2, 2-6, 10-7 win over UP's Saroop Dhatt.

“Despite the loss, I thought we played some good tennis,” said MSU head coach Denise Albrecht. “Ellie had a nice win at No. 4 and Paulina (Lopez) and Liana (Bates) each went three sets. We saw some nice improvement from the opening weekend.”

The Bobcats recorded its second straight Big Sky Conference win with a narrow 4-3 victory over the Vikings. PSU went 2-1 in doubles play to earn the first point of the match. MSU's lone doubles win came at the top spot where Char Hjalmarsson and Paulina Lopez notched an 8-5 win over Daria Burbonia and Kelsey Frey.

Crum, who remains undefeated at No. 4 singles, quickly tied the match at 1-1 with a straight set 6-2, 6-0 win over Marti Pellicano. Freshman Iva Parapunova gave the Bobcats a 2-1 advantage cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles.

PSU answered winning at No. 5 singles to even the match, but MSU responded as Lopez defeated Frey at No. 3 singles and Hjalmarsson secured the win with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles over Marina Todd.

“As good as we played against Portland, we had a letdown against Portland State,” Albrecht said. “We weren't at our best. But as was the case in our opening weekend, we are a veteran team that found a way to win. We're happy to be 2-0 in Big Sky play.”

The MSU women will be idle until hosting Idaho, March 1, in the Anderson Tennis Center.