TEMPE, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona women's tennis team faced their toughest opponent of the season against No. 29 in the country Arizona State. The Lumberjacks struggled throughout the day as NAU fell to the Sun Devils 7-0.

"We have to believe in ourselves a little bit more," said head coach Kim Bruno. "Every time we step on the court we need to believe in ourselves that we can win. We have a great group of kids but we need to take a different mindset going into our matches the rest of the season."

This was the Northern Arizona's second match at the Whiteman Tennis Center this season as NAU opened the season at ASU against UC Davis. The Lumberjacks were swept to start the match in doubles losing on courts one and three 6-0 in each match. ASU carried the momentum built from doubles into singles sweeping all six matches.

Northern Arizona's Johanna Vang had the task of going up against Desirae Krawczyk, the Sun Devils highest ranked player this season coming in at No. 37 in the country and number six in the Southwest Region. Vang came out battling taking an early 3-1 lead in the first set but senior from Sweden would drop the set 6-4 and Krawczyk came out victorious in the second set 6-1 to clinch the match.  

After the match head coach for the Sun Devils Sheila McInerney met with Bruno's squad to share some words of wisdom to pass down to the Lumberjacks for the remainder of the season. McInerney is a mentor of Bruno as the two have known each other for many years when Bruno was a player at Northern Arizona.

"She told our players that our program is no different than theirs besides the ranking," said Bruno. "She preached on what team culture is all about so to get another voice to preach the message we are trying to get across."

The Lumberjacks will take the weekend off from play but will be back in action on Monday for their first home match of the season. At 1 p.m. on Feb. 23, the Lumberjacks will host Big Sky opponent Southern Utah at the Enchantment Resort in Sedona.

"I expect us to come out with more fire than today," said Bruno. "This match will set the tone for the rest of our Big Sky matches and if the girls believe in the process than we can have a successful season."

This will be the second Big Sky match for the Lumberjacks this season after defeating North Dakota in Grand Forks.

Results

Doubles

1. Desirae Krawczyk/Stephanie Vlad (ASU) def. Johanna Vang/Emelia Box (NAU) 6-0
2. Joanna Smith/Kassidy Jump (ASU) vs. Marta Lewandowska/Hailey Rochin (NAU) 4-2 DNF
3. Ebony Panoho/Alexandra Osborne (ASU) def. Jordan Denesik/Livia Hollosy (NAU) 6-0

Singles

1. Desirae Krawczyk  (ASU) def. Johanna Vang (NAU) 6-4, 6-1
2. Stephanie Vlad  (ASU) def. Hailey Rochin (NAU) 6-0, 6-0
3. Kassidy Jump (ASU) def. Emelia Box (NAU) 6-2, 7-5
4. Joanna Smith (ASU) def. Marta Lewandowska (NAU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Ebony Panoho (ASU) def. Jordan Denesik (NAU) 6-0, 6-2
6. Gussie O'Sullivan (ASU) def. Sara Brown (NAU) 6-1, 6-0