Feb. 8, 2008

BOZEMAN, Mont. - The University of Northern Colorado women's tennis team fell 7-0 to Montana State in Big Sky Conference action Friday afternoon. The Bears drop to 0-3 on the season and 0-2 against Big Sky foes, while Montana State is now 3-3 overall and 2-0 against league opponents.

Once again, Tabatha Knop and Manuela Santos battled it out at the number-one doubles position, but fell short, 8-7 to Stephanie Jasper and Katy Proietti. The third doubles match was also close as Tiffany Knop and Jori Ciarvella dropped an 8-6 decision to Nuria Hernandez and McKenzie Hilmer. Hannah LaForest and Karen Groll lost 8-1 at the second ladder position.

Tabatha Knop lost both sets 7-5 to Jasper, while Tiffany Knop moved up to the number-two position, losing 7-5, 6-2 to Hernandez. Santos was the only Bear to play three sets, falling 6-3 in the first set before battling back to win the second set 6-3. She dropped the final stanza 6-1 to Laura Villegas.

At number-four singles, Groll dropped straight sets to Proietti, 6-3, 6-4, while Ciarvella lost 6-2, 6-4 at the fifth spot to Ali Griffin and Hannah LaForest lost to Remy Clark 6-0, 6-0.

"Today was a tough day for us physically and mentally," said Head Coach Brenda Vlasak. "We were very competitive in the majority of the matches, we set up good points, but didnt execute at the right moments. I hope we can bounce back from this defeat and look ahead with a positive attitude to our futures matches."

The Bears return to the court tomorrow morning to face Sam Houston State at the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center on the Montana State campus and then will travel to Missoula to face Montana on Sunday afternoon.