FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 7, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's tennis team heads east on the I-40 for a Friday afternoon matchup with New Mexico at 1 p.m. as their tour through the Mountain West Conference continues. NAU's lone match this week is its second of a string of three straight road matches against Mountain West foes.
"After last weekend, we took the good things, like our first conference win which was important, and we want to build on that," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "We had a short week in town, but we've used these two days as much as we can to correct the little details. Going forward, we're hoping to take care of the little things."
NAU displayed a lot of positives in dispatching Northern Colorado, 5-2, in its first match last week. The Big Sky opening win was NAU's first of the season. However, despite battling in both singles and doubles, the Lumberjacks came up short in a 4-1 loss to Wyoming to close the road trip.
"Doubles was close (against Wyoming) and then we rebounded really well in singles," Bogusz said. "We had a really good start in singles and we were hopeful because the ladies started very strong mentally. Knowing that we can be this tough mentally and battle against good teams like Wyoming puts us in a good place."
After a split on the road, the Lumberjacks (4-5 overall) face a quick turnaround before traveling to Albuquerque on Friday. NAU and New Mexico will square off for the ninth consecutive year with the two teams splitting the last eight meetings. The Lumberjacks edged the Lobos, 4-3, last season at home marking their second straight victory in the series, but overall New Mexico holds a 19-5 all-time head-to-head advantage.
Fresh off her fourth Big Sky Player of the Week award of the season, junior
Chiara Tomasetti enters the weekend with an 8-0 singles record. Tomasetti moved up eight spots in the Oracle/ITA Division I national rankings after earning two more straight set victories. In all, Tomasetti has posted seven straight set wins in a row and she leads the Big Sky with eight victories at No. 1 singles.
Tomasetti and freshman
Adrianna Sosnowska also claimed doubles victories at No. 1 last weekend against both Northern Colorado and Wyoming to extend their win streak to six matches. At 7-2 overall, the pair is tied for the league-lead with Eastern Washington's Rylee Braeden and Madeline Lamoreaux for most wins at the top doubles position.
Sosnowska is 5-3 in singles play splitting time between the No. 3 and No. 4 positions with her five victories ranking second on the team. Fellow freshman
Emilie Haakansson ranks third with a 4-3 singles record and is on a three-match win streak which only trails Tomasetti. Haakansson has primarily alternated with Sosnowska at the third and fourth spots in the lineup.
Since senior
Hanneke Lodewijks returned from an injury last month, Lodewijks and sophomore
Ellie Millard have compiled a 3-2 doubles record at No. 2 slotting in behind Tomasetti and Sosnowska.
New Mexico last competed in mid-February and will be looking to snap a five-match losing streak on Friday. The Lobos, who are 3-7 overall, will be in the right place to do so as they have posted a perfect 3-0 on their home courts at the Estes Tennis Center this spring.
The Lobos are led by Bronte Murgett and Yue Lin Chen, who each have tallied four singles wins this spring. Murgett has played at both the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, while Chen has competed primarily at No. 6 singles.
Murgett and Natasha Munday had won their first seven doubles matches before dropping their last match against No. 22 Texas Tech. Still, Murgett and Munday owns an impressive 7-1 record at No. 3 doubles to pace New Mexico.
