SACRAMENTO, Calif. – After a memorable win in the Big Sky Championships quarterfinals over the No. 3 Montana the Northern Arizona men's tennis team would have to pull off another upset in the semifinals against the No. 1 seed Weber State in order to advance to the championship. In the regular season Weber State defeated NAU 4-3 in Flagstaff but it was a different story on Saturday as the Lumberjacks walked away with the 4-1 upset over Weber State to advance to the Big Sky Championship.

"I am so proud of our guys today as they brought the energy, resilience and determination it takes to beat the number one team in the conference," said head coach Ki Kroll. "Although today was a great win, we came here to compete for a championship and that is our focus now."

NAU started the match coming away with the doubles point with victories on courts one and two. Jordan Gobatie and Alexandre Locci got NAU its first win of the day on court one over Stefan Cooper and Sanjay Goswami 8-3. After Weber State took the match on court three, the pressure turned to court two and the duo from Israel, Eden Peleg and Adi Zilberstein, came up clutch with an 8-4 win over Todd Fought and Jakub Gewert to give the Lumberjacks the 1-0 lead.

Heading into singles play, NAU needed just three matches to pull out the victory and Peleg, Felix Schumann and Alexandre Locci delivered those wins to give NAU its 11^th win of the season. Peleg got NAU its first win in singles over Landon Barlow 6-3, 6-1 to give Northern Arizona the 2-0 lead. Goswami got the Wildcats their lone win in singles to cut NAU's lead to 2-1. NAU would win the final two matches of the day with a 6-4, 7-5 win from Locci over Cooper giving NAU the 3-1 lead. Clinching the match for the Lumberjacks was the freshman from Germany, Felix Schumann, on court five as he defeated Shao-Po Yin 6-2, 6-3 to send NAU into the finals.

NAU will face the No. 2 seed, Idaho, tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the Big Sky Championships. NAU and the Vandals squared off in the regular season in NAU's first home match of the season and the Lumberjacks were able to defeat Idaho 5-2 for their first win in conference.  

Results

Doubles

1. Jordan Gobatie/Alexandre Locci (NAU) def. Stefan Cooper/Sanjay Goswami (WSU) 8-3
2. Eden Peleg/Adi Zilberstein (NAU) def. Todd Fought/Jakub Gewert (WSU) 8-4
3. Landon Barlow/Hou-En Chen (WSU) def. Felix Schumann/Kester Black (NAU) 8-4

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles

1. Jordan Gobatie (NAU) vs. Jakub Gewert (WSU) 6-2, 0-4 unfinished
2. Alexandre Locci (NAU) def. Stefan Cooper (WSU) 6-4, 7-5
3. Kester Black (NAU) vs. Todd Fought (WSU)3-6, 3-4
4. Eden Peleg (NAU) def. Landon Barlow (WSU) 6-3, 6-1
5. Felix Schumann (NAU) def. Shao-Po Yin (WSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Sanjay Goswami (WSU) def. Adi ZIlberstein (NAU) 8-4

Order of Finish: 4, 6, 2, 5