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Griz Athletics Fall Sports Update

G

Griz til I die

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I did this in the Spring keeping tabs with all of our Olympic Spring sports and thought it would be a good idea to start one for the Fall sports season.

Volleyball
After a really bad opening tournament at Utah Valley that saw the Griz open their season at 0-3, they bounced back in a big way at home going 3-0 with two wins over Oakland (really bad team) and one win over an actually decent North Dakota State team to bring their overall record to 3-3. Exactly what the doctor ordered for Volleyball. had they lost any of those matches at home over the weekend and they would have really been uphill sledding. The Griz will now head out to Terre Haute, Indiana for the Indiana State tournament where they'll take on ISU, Butler, and Eastern Illinois. IMO they have to get out of this tournament with at least one win. The most likely win would come against ISU. EIU is 5-0 to start the season and Butler has held their own. If the Griz get swept at this tournament, then they probably won't win another non-conference match this year. Big tourney coming up.

Cross Country
Cross Country actually got their season started back on August 29 at the Bobcat Twilight which was pretty much just the Griz, cats, and the MT NAIA teams. The Griz had two men crack the top ten with Luke Mest and Carson Steckleberg finishing 7th and 8th respectively. Unfortunately, the top 6 runners were all from msu. I said in the spring that if the Griz wanted to take the next step in the TF&XC programs, the distance running is where we need to get better, and we are but we're not there yet. The women only had one top ten finisher in in Kayla Ingraham who finished 6th. Gotta get more athletes into the top ten on both sides. More work to be done. The Big Sky championships are in Bozeman this year and I assume they are being held on the same course that they just competed on so that could be beneficial. The Griz will head to Pullman on Friday after taking this past week off to compete in the WSU Cougar Classic.

Men's Tennis
The defending Big Sky champions will officially open their individual season this weekend down in Boise for the three day Dar Walters Classic hosted by Boise State. In College Tennis, the fall season is individual competition and the spring season is team competition. So the Griz will not be competing as a team this weekend, but rather as individuals to see how far they can advance in the tournament. All eyes will be on Senior Tom Bittner who over the summer became the first ever Grizzly to earn a ranking on the ITA world tour. He'll be one of the favorites to win the tourney over the weekend. We'll see how things play out down in Boise.

Women's Tennis
Steve Ascher and the young women's tennis team will get their individual season started down in Pocatello on Friday for the Idaho State Invite. It's a major re-building year for Women's Tennis so I'm not expecting a lot of success, especially with last years top 2 players both graduating. We'll see if this team can grow up in a hurry.

Golf
The Griz Golf team will get their season started in Bozeman on Monday for the two day, 72 hole Yellowstone Intercollegiate at Riverside CC. If you've ever played that course before, then you know how tough it is. I played it a couple times in high school tournaments and it is loaded with trees and water. The fairways are very tight and you have to keep the ball straight or you're in for a long day. The Griz did lose their top player in Elle Higgins over the summer who transferred to Wyoming, but they do return the rest of the lineup who participated in last years Big Sky championships. I expect the 5 golfers in the lineup for the fall season to be Raina Ports, Hannah Ports, Hope Torres, Kate Bogenschutz, and Bella Johnson. Torres is a true freshmen out of Colorado who won two 3A state championships that Jimmy Mee has just raved about and has called her a day one impact player for this team. The other 4 are all returning players to the lineup and I'm expecting big things out of. Especially from the Ports sisters as Raina won the Montana Women's State Amatuer this summer and Hannah finished 3rd. There's ten team competing in this tournament and the Griz need to finish in the top 5 IMO. If they do that, then I'll suddenly be excited about the way the season could go for them.

I'll update this weekly with results and upcoming events!
 
Griz til I die said:
I did this in the Spring keeping tabs with all of our Olympic Spring sports and thought it would be a good idea to start one for the Fall sports season.

Volleyball
After a really bad opening tournament at Utah Valley that saw the Griz open their season at 0-3, they bounced back in a big way at home going 3-0 with two wins over Oakland (really bad team) and one win over an actually decent North Dakota State team to bring their overall record to 3-3. Exactly what the doctor ordered for Volleyball. had they lost any of those matches at home over the weekend and they would have really been uphill sledding. The Griz will now head out to Terre Haute, Indiana for the Indiana State tournament where they'll take on ISU, Butler, and Eastern Illinois. IMO they have to get out of this tournament with at least one win. The most likely win would come against ISU. EIU is 5-0 to start the season and Butler has held their own. If the Griz get swept at this tournament, then they probably won't win another non-conference match this year. Big tourney coming up.

Cross Country
Cross Country actually got their season started back on August 29 at the Bobcat Twilight which was pretty much just the Griz, cats, and the MT NAIA teams. The Griz had two men crack the top ten with Luke Mest and Carson Steckleberg finishing 7th and 8th respectively. Unfortunately, the top 6 runners were all from msu. I said in the spring that if the Griz wanted to take the next step in the TF&XC programs, the distance running is where we need to get better, and we are but we're not there yet. The women only had one top ten finisher in in Kayla Ingraham who finished 6th. Gotta get more athletes into the top ten on both sides. More work to be done. The Big Sky championships are in Bozeman this year and I assume they are being held on the same course that they just competed on so that could be beneficial. The Griz will head to Pullman on Friday after taking this past week off to compete in the WSU Cougar Classic.

Men's Tennis
The defending Big Sky champions will officially open their individual season this weekend down in Boise for the three day Dar Walters Classic hosted by Boise State. In College Tennis, the fall season is individual competition and the spring season is team competition. So the Griz will not be competing as a team this weekend, but rather as individuals to see how far they can advance in the tournament. All eyes will be on Senior Tom Bittner who over the summer became the first ever Grizzly to earn a ranking on the ITA world tour. He'll be one of the favorites to win the tourney over the weekend. We'll see how things play out down in Boise.

Women's Tennis
Steve Ascher and the young women's tennis team will get their individual season started down in Pocatello on Friday for the Idaho State Invite. It's a major re-building year for Women's Tennis so I'm not expecting a lot of success, especially with last years top 2 players both graduating. We'll see if this team can grow up in a hurry.

Golf
The Griz Golf team will get their season started in Bozeman on Monday for the two day, 72 hole Yellowstone Intercollegiate at Riverside CC. If you've ever played that course before, then you know how tough it is. I played it a couple times in high school tournaments and it is loaded with trees and water. The fairways are very tight and you have to keep the ball straight or you're in for a long day. The Griz did lose their top player in Elle Higgins over the summer who transferred to Wyoming, but they do return the rest of the lineup who participated in last years Big Sky championships. I expect the 5 golfers in the lineup for the fall season to be Raina Ports, Hannah Ports, Hope Torres, Kate Bogenschutz, and Bella Johnson. Torres is a true freshmen out of Colorado who won two 3A state championships that Jimmy Mee has just raved about and has called her a day one impact player for this team. The other 4 are all returning players to the lineup and I'm expecting big things out of. Especially from the Ports sisters as Raina won the Montana Women's State Amatuer this summer and Hannah finished 3rd. There's ten team competing in this tournament and the Griz need to finish in the top 5 IMO. If they do that, then I'll suddenly be excited about the way the season could go for them.

I'll update this weekly with results and upcoming events!
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Excellent information. Been thinking about Griz mens tennis and maybe all of our Olympic sports. UM seems to have good coaching and they are attracting many quality recruits, mainly foreign students. Tennis teams improve (sometimes dramatically) by playing better competition. Would it be possible to elevate our Olympic sports (all of them) to a better conference if the budget and rules allow?
 
Spanky2 said:
Excellent information. Been thinking about Griz mens tennis and maybe all of our Olympic sports. UM seems to have good coaching and they are attracting many quality recruits, mainly foreign students. Tennis teams improve (sometimes dramatically) by playing better competition. Would it be possible to elevate our Olympic sports (all of them) to a better conference if the budget and rules allow?
Click to expand...
I don't see Haslam moving any of our olympic teams out of the Big Sky unless the BSC lost their auto bid to the NCAA's for not having enough teams, or if we got an invite to the MWC for all sports. That was a problem in Men's Golf but they got their AQ back this year when Eastern dropped their men's tennis program and instead added men's golf and then they also added Francis Marion who for some reason plays D1 Golf but is D3 for every other sport.

I think it'd be great for Soccer and Men's Tennis to join the Mountain West with how consistently good they have been, but I don't think they have any need to add teams for certain olympic sports while they're still shopping for more full time members. Right now they're working on their new tv deal but once that's finished, things are gonna start picking up again and maybe an opportunity will come for the Griz and cats to both join the MWC. Once Football season comes to an end, things could start heating up on the realignment front again.
 
Griz til I die said:
I don't see Haslam moving any of our olympic teams out of the Big Sky unless the BSC lost their auto bid to the NCAA's for not having enough teams, or if we got an invite to the MWC for all sports. That was a problem in Men's Golf but they got their AQ back this year when Eastern dropped their men's tennis program and instead added men's golf and then they also added Francis Marion who for some reason plays D1 Golf but is D3 for every other sport.

I think it'd be great for Soccer and Men's Tennis to join the Mountain West with how consistently good they have been, but I don't think they have any need to add teams for certain olympic sports while they're still shopping for more full time members. Right now they're working on their new tv deal but once that's finished, things are gonna start picking up again and maybe an opportunity will come for the Griz and cats to both join the MWC. Once Football season comes to an end, things could start heating up on the realignment front again.
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My hat is off for the coach who has been able to recruit many quality players. Our program is in a weak conference, we play an abbreviated schedule and don’t have an indoor tennis center.
 
Spanky2 said:
My hat is off for the coach who has been able to recruit many quality players. Our program is in a weak conference, we play an abbreviated schedule and don’t have an indoor tennis center.
Click to expand...
They're working on an Indoor Tennis Center as we speak. Hopefully they come up with the money soon. I'm not aware of us playing an abbreviated schedule though. Are we?
 
You mentioned the Indoor Tennis Center previously. Hopefully it becomes reality. I haven’t looked at this years schedule, but historically we have played a shorter schedule. As I recall, my son’s team played 35-40 opponents a year.
 
Just looked at their schedule. About 25 matches-not strong teams. They play Utah which is good as they often have an excellent team.
 
Here's your weekly Olympic sports update

Cross Country
The team was down in Pullman last Friday for the WSU Cougar Classic. The Griz men finished in 3rd place behind Wazzu and Gonzaga but finished ahead of fellow Big Sky foe Eastern and also Seattle U along with several non D1 schools. Two Grizzly runners finished in the top ten with Zachary Giesch finishing 9th and Carson Steckleberg finishing 10th. Giesch's time 24:16.7 was good enough to earn him Big Sky athlete of the week, which is the first weekly honor for a Griz Cross Country runner since 2002. On the women's side, it was not as strong of a showing as they finished 4th as a team and their top individual was Kayla Ingraham who finished 18th so lots of room to improve there. The team is back in action on Friday at home at the UM Golf Course for their annual home meet, the Montana Invite. it starts at 6:30 and if you've never been to a Cross Country meet, I highly recommend you go. Should be interesting to see how they do at home.

Volleyball
As Everett alluded to up above, the Griz went 3-0 at the Indiana State tournament in Terre Haute. They beat Indiana State on Friday morning in straight sets then followed it up with another straight sets win on Friday afternoon against Big East foe Butler, and then knocked off undefeated Eastern Illinois on Saturday morning 3-1. I did not expect them to win all three matches and I am now pleasantly surprised with how well they are playing. The Griz now sit at 6-3 overall on the season and have cliched only their second winning record in non-conference play under Allison Lawrence as they head into the final week of non-conference play. They'll travel to Spokane on Thursday to take on Gonzaga and then will wrap non-conference play on Friday against Seattle U in a neutral site game in Cheney. These two matches will be an interesting litmus test to see just how good they truly are.

Soccer
Griz Soccer played a rare road non-conference matchup on Sunday defeating UC Davis 1-0 to bring their record to 4-2-1 overall. The lone goal in this game came from Eliza Bentler only 5 minutes into the game and from there the Griz had to hang on for dear life. They missed a PK (seems to be a recurring issue) that would've made it 2-0 and put it out of reach. Regardless, they still won and they will wrap up non-conference play at home this week against Gonzaga on Thursday and Washington State on Sunday. Both teams are struggling this year so this is a big opportunity for the Griz at home as we head into conference play.

Women's Tennis
The Griz opened their individual season down in Pocatello over the weekend and despite only three teams being in attendance (Griz, ISU, Utah Tech) the women came away with titles in both singles and doubles as Kate Prichard cruised through the singles bracket undefeated and the duo of Kelsey Phillips and newcomer Meghna Anand won the doubles bracket to bring home a air of titles for the Griz. Despite it being a small field, this an encouraging sign as the Griz lost to both of these teams last spring. Gives me hope that they're improving. The women will be off this week before getting back after it in two weeks in Pullman for the Cougar Classic.

Men's Tennis
The men were down in Boise for the Dar Walters Classic that featured a loaded field with the likes of Boise State, BYU, Utah State, and several Big Sky schools. Although our to player Tom Bittner sat this tournament out with bigger events on the horizon, the rest of the Grizzlies had impressive performances with Baltazar Wiger-Nordas and Duncan McCall teaming up to make it all the way to the main draw Semis which included a pair of wins over players from BYU and Portland, two of the strongest teams out west. Freshman Matt Upton also had an impressive debut in Singles going 3-1 and knocking off Boise State's #2 player. A sign of good things to come for Jason Brown's crew. The men will travel to Pocatello this weekend for the Bengal Invitational.

Golf
Griz Golf got their season started on Monday in Bozeman for the 2 day, 72 hole Yellowstone Intercollegiate hosted by the cats at Riverside Country Club. Unfortunately, it was a tough debut for the ladies as they finished 10th out of 11 teams. They were plagued by a very bad first round that put them behind the 8 ball the rest of the tournament. Most of the teams in this field opened their seasons last week so that certainly didn't help, and Riverside is a tough course to open your season on, but still they gotta be better than 10th. Raina Ports had a nice tournament finishing in the top ten and was really the only consistent threat for the Griz. Everybody else was really up and down. Perhaps the next most impressive performance came from freshman Katie Lewis of Frenchtown who was making her collegiate debut. After shooting (+6) 78 in her fist round, after that she shot rounds of (+3) 75 and (+2) 74. That improvement and impressive collegiate debut I believe has earned her the right to be in the top 5 lineup for next weeks tournament. I also thought Utah Tech transfer Salina Lui showed some promising signs to potentially earn her way into the lineup next week as well. I also thought Freshman Hope Torres who obviously had a lot of nerves in her collegiate debut gave us good signs of what to come. She shot a (+12) 84 in the first round as I'm sure she was pretty nervous but then shot (+5) 77 in the second round and finished with an impressive (+2) 74 in her final round. I think she's gonna be a good player for us. The Griz are back in action next week in Spokane for the Kalispel Invitational hosted by Eastern at the new Kalispel Country Club. I suspect Jimmy Mee will once again bring the entire team but it's gonna be interesting to see what he does with the lineup and who he decides to put in the top 5. I do think the Griz will have improved results next week.

Another loaded week coming up. Here's to more good results across the board! Go Griz!
 
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