BOZEMAN, Mont. (April 13, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's tennis team punched their ticket to the conference tournament, and kept pace with the league's top two teams, with a 7-0 shutout win over Montana State Saturday morning at the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center. The Lumberjacks posted their sixth consecutive victory, increasing their ledger to 10-8 overall and 6-1 in Big Sky play.
"The ladies really showed up today," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "We started on the right note by clinching the doubles point and we were able to carry the momentum into singles even though Montana State showed a lot of grit and energy. We've had some tough matchups, but everyone showed mental toughness and was able to pull out the win."
With the win, NAU once again pulled into a tie with Eastern Washington for second-place in the standings. Both teams hold a 6-1 conference record and trail Idaho by a half-game. The Lumberjacks will host both Idaho and Eastern Washington next weekend in Flagstaff.
However before NAU closes out the regular season at home, the Lumberjacks has business to tend to on the road starting in Bozeman on Saturday. NAU clinched the doubles point by taking two of the three matches and proceeded to sweep all six singles matches to earn its second 7-0 win of the season.
Sophomore
Madi Moore and freshman
Emilie Haakansson cruised to a 6-1 win at No. 3 doubles over Montana State's Enni Zander and Sara Iverson. The 'Jacks later clinched the point with a 7-5 win at No. 2 courtesy of senior
Hanneke Lodewijks and sophomore
Ellie Millard. Lodewijks and Millard's win over Annie Walker and Linda Vink was the pair's sixth consecutive, corresponding with NAU's season-long winning streak.
Freshman
Adrianna Sosnowska posted the first singles win of the day, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 4 versus Zander, and Millard's 7-1, 7-6(2) victory against Linnea Fristam at No. 3 gave the Lumberjacks a 3-0 match lead.
The Lumberjacks' top two players in the lineup were pushed by their Bobcat opponents and both junior
Chiara Tomasetti and Lodewijks responded to first-set losses to record three-set victories. Lodewijks provided the match-clincher with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 2 against Walker. Tomasetti followed that up with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Laura Mary at No. 1 to push her season record to 17-0.
Haakansson and Moore closed out the match with victories at the bottom two spots. Haakansson defeated Vink, 6-4, 6-1, at No. 5 and Moore was victorious by a 6-1, 6-1 margin over Iverson.
The Lumberjacks are headed to the Big Sky tournament for the 29th consecutive year and are squarely in the running for one of the top two seeds, and the corresponding first round bye, with three regular season matches remaining.
NAU will play its final road match on Sunday morning versus Montana with doubles play commencing at 8 a.m. MST.
Results:
Doubles:
