The University of Montana Women's Tennis

The 2025-26 season is Steve Ascher’s 18th year as head women’s tennis coach at the University of Montana. A three-time Big Sky Coach of the Year, he last earned the honor in 2024 after leading the Griz to a share of the league's regular season title. When he came to Montana, Ascher was asked to take a team that had had limited success over the years and build a Big Sky Conference champion. Ascher and the Grizzlies accomplished that goal in 2014 when they won the first regular-season league title in program history. The championship capped a steady rise up the Big Sky standings, from a tie for fourth in Ascher’s first year to third-place finishes in 2010, ’11 and ’12. Montana finished second behind Sacramento State in 2013, then ended the Hornets’ 112-match league winning streak in 2014 on its way to a perfect 9-0 conference record. It marked the first time since the Big Sky began a round-robin schedule in 2004 that a team other than Sac State had won the regular-season title. Between 2010 and 2015, Montana finished third or higher in the regular-season Big Sky standings and three times advanced to the Big Sky tournament championship match. Most recently Ascher's Grizzlies went on a run of upsets to claim a share of the 2024 regular season Big Sky title with a 6-2 conference record, clinched with a 5-2 win over Montana State in Bozeman. Ascher was voted by his peers as the Big Sky Coach of the Year in 2012, 2014, and 2024. Montana earned a No. 10 ranking in the ITA Mountain Re