SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Northern Arizona men's tennis team pulled off the upset against the defending Big Sky Champions Montana in the Big Sky Championships Quarterfinals. NAU entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed and the Lumberjacks had to go up against the Grizzlies, who were the No. 3 seed, and had defeated the Lumberjacks this season 6-1 but on Friday it was a different story as NAU took down the Griz 4-2 to advance to the semifinals.

"Today was a testament to the grittiness of our team," said head coach Ki Kroll who picked up his second career win in the Big Sky Championships. "To come back after losing the doubles point to beat the defending champs show we are here to compete for a championship."

After dropping the doubles point and the first match in singles on court two, the Lumberjacks had to fight back from being down 2-0. As NAU searched for its first win of the day, it was freshman Felix Schumann who stepped up for the Lumberjacks on court five. Schumann was able to defeat Alexandr Rudenco 6-1, 6-4 to cut Montana's lead 2-1.  Tying the match for NAU was the senior, Jordan Gobatie, as the 'Jacks No. 1 player as he faced Tomasz Soltyka. In their previous meeting, Soltyka defeated Gobatie 6-3, 6-4 in Missoula, Mont. but the roles were reversed in the quarterfinals as Gobatie took down Soltyka 7-5, 6-3 to tie the match at 2-2.

"We fought so hard today to pull this one out," said Gobatie. "Our whole team rebounded after doubles and to defeat Montana after losing to them the past two years means so much."

As Northern Arizona looked to take the lead, Eden Peleg delivered on court four with a 7-6 (3), 7-5 win over Victor Casadevall. The Lumberjacks then clinched the match on court three from the second senior, Kester Black, as the native of Scotland defeated Peter Mimnagh-Fleming. After dropping the first set 6-2, Black rebounded in the second set with a gritty 7-6 (3) win to force a third set.  With the season on the line, Black displayed the composure of a senior and pulled out a 6-2 victory to send NAU into the semifinals.

"As a fellow senior I am so happy for Kester to clinch the match point," said Gobatie. "This is our last tournament and for him to pull out an epic clinch was awesome to watch."

The Lumberjacks will now face the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Weber State, on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Gold River Racquet Club. This will be the 55^th meeting all-time between NAU and Weber State as the Wildcats hold the 29-25 advantage.

"We are looking forward to tomorrow's match against a very strong Weber State team," said Kroll.

The two teams squared off in the regular season in Flagstaff where the Wildcats came out on top in a tight 4-3 win.

Results

Doubles

1. Tomasz Soltyka/Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) def. Jordan Gobatie/Alexandre Locci (NAU) 8-3
2. Eden Peleg/Adi Zilberstein (NAU) vs. Semion Branzburg/Yannick Schmidl (UM) 7-7 (6-4) unfinished
3. Victor Casadevall/Alexandr Rudenco (UM) def. Kester Black/Felix Schumann (NAU) 8-7 (4)

Order of Finish: 1, 3

Singles

1. Jordan Gobatie (NAU) def. Tomasz Soltyka (UM) 7-5, 6-3
2. Semion Branzburg (UM) def. Alexandre Locci (NAU) 6-3, 6-0
3. Kester Black (NAU) def. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming (UM) 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2
4. Eden Peleg (NAU) def. Victor Casadevall (UM) 7-6 (3), 7-5
5. Felix Schumann (NAU) def. Alexandr Rudenco (UM) 6-1, 6-4
6. Adi Zilberstein (NAU) vs. Yannick Schmidl (UM) 6-7 (10), 6-4, 1-2

Order Finish: 2, 5, 1, 4, 3