FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 22, 2019) – The Northern Arizona men's tennis team was able to win its sixth straight match on the season as it took does Idaho State with a score of 7-0. The wins pushes the Lumberjacks to a record of 9-6 on the season and 5-0 in the conference, while the loss moves the Bengals to 5-8 on the season and 2-2 in the Big Sky.
"What I'm happy about is that all the guys are competing hard and there are no holes; that's when you're going to be able to win a match 7-0," NAU head coach
Maciej Bogusz said. "The guys are trusting the process and understanding that we're getting better. Even after this match, there are little things we can work on. The guys are buying in, listening to the coaches and they're seeing the results."
The 'Jacks were able to start the match off against ISU with a 1-0 lead, as NAU was able to win the doubles point. This marks the sixth straight match where the Lumberjacks were able to win the doubles point. Northern Arizona's No. 2 and No.3 duos were able to pick up wins against Idaho State, while the Lumberjacks No.1 doubles pair match remained unfinished. The No. 2 doubles pair of
Chris Steele and
Tom Fisher were able to start the doubles competition with a win, as they took down David Felix and Gary Rendek by a score of 6-3. The duo pair of
Lucas Taylor and
Facundo Tumosa were able to seal the doubles point with a win over Francis Filipovich and Lukas Ridemar 6-4.
"We carried the momentum well from the doubles point into singles, which we've been talking about a lot. To be honest, Idaho State is a good team," Bogusz said. "They are very talented, and they have big guys who can hit the ball big, which helps at 7,000 feet. They showed us that they could play with us. If we didn't carry the momentum from doubles, we'd still be playing this match, and the match would've been much closer than it was."
In singles, Northern Arizona won all six of its singles matches for the second time on the season. The first time was in a 7-0 victory over the University of Montana on March 9. In the match,
Tim Handel won the first singles match on the day as he took down ISU's No. 1 singles player Felix 6-1 and 6-3. This win moves Handel to a record of 12-1 on the season, which leads the Big Sky. Handel has also already picked up two Big Sky Player of the Week honors in his senior season. Following Handel's win,
Ruben Montano was able to record a win for NAU as he beat Rendek 6-1 and 6-0.
With the Lumberjacks just one win away from sealing the win over Idaho State, the freshman Tumosa was able to win the No. 4 singles over Ridemar 6-2 and 7-6.
With the win in hands, NAU's No. 3 and No. 2 singles of Steele and Taylor were able to win their matches against ISU.
Looking Forward
Northern Arizona will be back in action on March 24, where the squad will take on Portland State in a Big Sky matchup.
