FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 27, 2019) – After over two weeks away from competition, the Northern Arizona women's tennis resumes play this weekend with a pair of road matches at Northern Colorado and Wyoming. The road trip takes the Lumberjacks through Greeley, Colo. to face Northern Colorado at 1 p.m. on Friday followed by the short drive to Laramie, Wyo. to take on Wyoming on Sunday at 2 p.m.
"We've had a couple of weeks off, but we used that time wisely," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "We accomplished small goals we had for these two weeks and we're looking forward to being back on the road. Of course, we have our first conference match and we're starting the second part of the season. The girls are mentally ready for it and the last two weeks showed we've got a good thing going on."
As a result of their match at UNLV on Feb. 14 cancelled due to rain, NAU last competed on Sunday, Feb. 10 against Utah State on the tail end of a three-match homestand. During their first home weekend, the Lumberjacks went 2-1 with victories over Mesa Community College and New Mexico State and takes a 3-4 overall record on their weekend road trip.
At the top of NAU's singles lineup resides junior
Chiara Tomasetti, ranked No. 116 in the most recent Oracle/ITA Division I national rankings, who remains unbeaten at 6-0 this spring in dual matches. Tomasetti has the second-most wins in the Big Sky without a loss trailing only Weber State's Megan Lombardi who is 9-0. However, Tomasetti has played all of her matches at No. 1, while Lombardi is undefeated at No. 5 and 6.
Freshmen
Adrianna Sosnowska and
Emilie Haakansson along with sophomore
Madi Moore are a combined 10-7 in singles in the No. 3, 4 and 5 positions. Couple with Tomasetti, the quartet has recorded 16 of NAU's 17 singles victories with sophomore
Ellie Millard winning one match at No. 2 this season.
Tomasetti and Sosnowska have paced the 'Jacks in doubles with a 5-2 record at the No. 1 spot. Tomasetti and Sosnowska's five singles wins are tied for the second-most in the Big Sky at the top position only behind Idaho's Marianna Petrei and Maria Tavares' six. The pair has won its last four matches.
Senior
Hanneke Lodewijks and Millard are projected to play at No. 2 in the NAU doubles lineup. The tandem made their season debut together during the Lumberjacks' most recent homestand and won two of their three matches. Moore and Haakansson comprised NAU's No. 3 doubles team two weeks ago.
The Lumberjacks take a 31-match Big Sky regular season winning streak into Friday's dual against Northern Colorado. The three-time defending regular season conference champions have strung together two consecutive perfect 11-0 Big Sky campaigns and have not dropped a regular season conference match since Feb. 7, 2016 versus Eastern Washington.
NAU, one of the last three teams to play its conference opener this weekend, has won 15 straight against Northern Colorado and are 16-2 all-time versus its Big Sky rival. Last season, the Lumberjacks defeated the Bears, 6-1.
Northern Colorado is 3-5 this spring and is in search of its first league win at 0-2. The Bears have dropped four straight since opening the season 3-1, including two road losses to Eastern Washington (7-0) and Idaho (6-1) last weekend.
The Bears have struggled in singles play without a player with a winning record, but each of their six primary players have at least two wins. In doubles, Northern Colorado has fared better thus far this season, compiling a 10-13 team record. Anna Battersby and Madeline Doherty have been strong at No. 2 doubles, winning four of six matches and are 4-3 overall.
Wyoming has been a busy team this spring, already putting together a 5-5 dual match record. The Cowgirls will be busy once again this weekend, playing three matches before they host the Lumberjacks on Sunday.
NAU and Wyoming have matched up in each of the last three years with the 'Jacks winning two of the meetings including last year's 5-2 home victory. Overall, NAU is 4-2 all-time against Wyoming – Bogusz's last coaching stop prior to arriving at NAU.
Elisa Koonik and Maria Oreshkina have won a team-best five singles matches, with four of Koonik's coming at No. 2. Oreshkina has posted four of her five singles victories at No. 3. In doubles, Koonik and Tessa van Der Ploeg is Wyoming's No. 1 doubles team. The Cowgirl pairing opened the fall season ranked No. 60 nationally.
