PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Montana State University Billings tennis teams jumped into their 2012 spring schedule this past weekend as both squads competed in the Grand Canyon Invitational hosted by Grand Canyon University Wednesday, Feb. 8 – Sunday, Feb. 12.
 
Neither squad posted a win, but they both competed fiercely against some extremely tough competition.
 
“While on paper this may look like a drubbing, we were very competitive in every match,” said head tennis coach Lew Kosich. “We knew this would be a tough tournament going in, and we are getting stronger and growing as a team.”
 
On the men's side, the Yellowjackets fell 5-4 to Sonoma State, 7-2 to 25^th-ranked Brigham Young University – Hawaii, 8-1 to 21^st-ranked Grand Canyon and 5-4 to the University of Hawaii – Hilo.
 
Alonso Leon, Navin Marimuthu and Kavindu Gamage each won their singles' matches against Sonoma State while the tandem of Leon and Marimuthu claimed the No. 1 doubles match 8,4. Against BYU – Hawaii, Leon and Gamage were able to claim victories before Marimuthu claimed the Yellowjackets' only win against tournament host Grand Canyon. In their final competition of the tournament, Leon, Marimuthu and Gamage all claimed wins against Hawaii – Hilo with Leon and Marimuthu once again coming out victorious in doubles.
 
The Yellowjacket women posted scores of 1-8 against Dixie State College and then went 0-9 against Sonoma State, Chaminade University, BYU – Hawaii and Dominican University.
 
Laura Housinger claimed the team's lone win against Dixie State's Krista Anderson at No. 1 singles.
 
The Yellowjackets will now have a couple weeks off until they head to Bozeman, Mont. where they will face off against Montana State University on March 2. The men will make two trips to Bozeman as they will also challenge the Bobcats on Feb. 19.