The Montana State women’s tennis team earned a 5-2 victory over Portland State at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center in Beaverton, Ore., on March 15. The Bobcats claimed singles wins on courts three through six and secured the doubles point to notch their first Big Sky Conference win of the season.
This result is significant for Montana State as it ends a seven-match losing streak and improves their overall record to 4-9, with a conference mark of 1-3. The team has now won four of its last five matches against Portland State.
Head coach Hailey Barrett said, “What a battle today. This was a full team effort all around. Kavya and Lola came up clutch and clinched the doubles point, and then we kept that energy heading into singles. Kavya and Angel both won solid singles matches, and then Terezie saved two match points and won a hard-fought tiebreaker to clinch the match. Lola followed up with a big win of her own shortly after. I’m so proud of this team, and we’ll get ready for Portland on Tuesday.”
Montana State started by winning two out of three doubles matches, with Angel Bean and Nia Gelashvili taking court two (6-2), while Lola Bean and Kavya Khirwar clinched the doubles point at No. 3 (7-6). In singles play, Kavya Khirwar’s straight-set win on court six helped regain momentum after an early loss at No. 2 singles. Angel Bean added another point at No. 3 singles before Terezie Stverakova secured the match with a comeback victory in three sets on court four. Lola Bean finished off the day with another three-set win on court five.
The Bobcats will continue their road trip with a match against Portland scheduled for Tuesday at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center.
