| MATCH 8 |
Northern Arizona at UNLV (Thursday, Feb. 14 | 11 a.m.) |
| LOCATION |
Fertitta Tennis Complex | Las Vegas, Nev. |
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Update (February 13, 2019): The match has been canceled due to rain in the forecast.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 12, 2019) – Before a lengthy layoff before their first conference match, the Northern Arizona women's tennis team will take on UNLV at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on Thursday at 11 a.m. MST. The short trip to Las Vegas will be NAU's third of the season following two tournaments in the fall.
"We play tough doubles, so we always give ourselves a chance," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "That's always good because we know we can compete against the best if we can get that first (doubles) point. We have some things to clean up, but we're looking for a positive mindset going into the UNLV match."
The Lumberjacks, 3-4 on the season, will have their hands full against the 5-2 Rebels, who are 3-0 at home this season. But NAU will be familiar with its opponent having faced UNLV in 10 singles matches and three doubles matches over the course of the fall season.
NAU, who will be playing its last match of the month of February before its Big Sky opener versus Northern Colorado on March 1, will be aiming to get back into the win column following a 4-2 loss to Utah State on Sunday. The loss concluded a 2-1 home opening weekend for the 'Jacks, which also included victories against Mesa Community College (6-1) and New Mexico State (4-2).
Junior
Chiara Tomasetti continues to lead the Lumberjacks as she maintained her perfect 6-0 singles record in dual matches with three dominating victories last weekend. The No. 106 ranked player in the nation dropped just five games in her three straight-set victories at No. 1 versus her three weekend opponents.
Behind Tomasetti, NAU's freshmen duo of
Adrianna Sosnowska and
Emilie Haakansson shined once again each picking up two singles victories at No. 3 and 4 respectively. Sosnowska and Haakansson flipped spots in the NAU lineup last weekend and have combined to go 7-5 at the third and fourth positions so far this spring.
Sophomore
Madi Moore also recorded two singles wins at No. 5 last weekend. Tomasetti, Sosnowska, Haakansson and Moore have combined for 16 of NAU's 17 singles wins through the first seven matches of the dual season.
NAU's doubles received a boost with the return of senior
Hanneke Lodewijks, who missed the first four matches with an injury, this past weekend. Lodewijks reunited with sophomore
Ellie Millard at the No. 2 spot and notched a 2-1 record, including the doubles point clinching win versus New Mexico State. Lodewijks and Millard were NAU's primary No. 1 doubles team a year ago and finished the 2017-18 season ranked No. 6 in the ITA Mountain Region rankings.
Tomasetti and Sosnowska improved on their team-best doubles record with victories in all three matches versus Mesa Community College, New Mexico State and Utah State. The tandem enters Thursday's match versus UNLV on a four-match winning streak and is 5-2 overall in dual matches.
NAU fell to UNLV, 4-2, last season in Las Vegas dropping its all-time record versus the Rebels to 1-16. However, the Lumberjacks' only win over the Rebels occurred just four years ago in a 4-3 victory in 2015.
UNLV is coming off three shutout wins over Youngstown State (7-0), UTEP (4-0) and Weber State (4-0) this past weekend at home. The Rebels' victories to open their home schedule upped their record at the Fertitta Tennis Complex to 14-1 over the last year-plus.
The Rebels sport two nationally-ranked singles players in their lineup in No. 81 Aiwen Zhu and No. 118 Izumi Asano. Zhu, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year, and Asano, the reigning Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year, occupy the No. 1 and No. 3 spots in UNLV's lineup.
Zhu and En-Pei Huang serves as UNLV's top doubles team. The pair was ranked No. 37 nationally throughout the fall season, but has since dropped out of the rankings.
