FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (April 20, 2019) – Then there were two. The three-way tie for first-place is down to two teams after the Northern Arizona women's tennis team knocked off Idaho, 4-3, on Saturday at the Aquatic and Tennis Complex. The Lumberjacks' victory – their eighth straight overall and sixth straight at home – sets up Sunday's Senior Day matchup with Eastern Washington for the outright Big Sky regular season championship.
"We came out with a lot of energy; that was the plan," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "Once again, they were able to carry the momentum from doubles into singles. They fed off each other on all six courts, cheering each other on. That's what you call a team effort and that pulled us through today."
NAU and Eastern Washington will meet at 10 a.m. Sunday morning with the winner claiming the regular season title and the number one overall seed in next week's conference tournament. Both teams will enter with identical 12-8 overall records and 8-1 marks in Big Sky action.
The 'Jacks got off to great starts in both doubles and singles play to earn their fourth straight 4-3 regular season victory over the Vandals. Sophomore
Ellie Millard's three-set victory at No. 3 singles put NAU ahead 4-0 before Idaho pulled out the last three singles matches.
Millard and senior
Hanneke Lodewijks quickly dispatched Idaho's Marta Magalhaes and Anna Stefani at No. 2 doubles, 6-1, allowing junior
Chiara Tomasetti and freshman
Adrianna Sosnowska to clinch the doubles point. Tomasetti and Sosnowska handed Marianna Petrei and Maria Tavares their first conference loss of the season by a 6-4 score on court one.
With the 1-0 lead, NAU just needed to split the six singles matches and the 'Jacks took care of business early. Sosnowska put away Stefani, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 4 and sophomore
Madi Moore easily defeated Maggie Chen, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 6 to give the Lumberjacks a 3-0 advantage.
With the first two singles matches completed, the final four matches went the distance in a matchup between the Big Sky's finalists three years running. The 'Jacks got the win they needed on the third court though with Millard rallying back from a first-set loss to defeat Spataro in the match-clinching victory.
Millard won the final two sets handedly to deal Spataro, who had previously been 7-0 in conference matches, a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 loss.
Idaho wound up taking the final three matches in three sets including the matchup on court one between Tomasetti and Petrei, the three-time league Most Valuable Player. Although Tomasetti suffered her first dual loss, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, she was able to extend Petrei to three sets for just the fourth time in her four-year conference career. Petrei had not previously been forced to three sets by a Big Sky opponent this season.
"Idaho is a very strong team and the matches we lost could've gone either way," Bogusz said. "Today we didn't get them, but we're happy with the way the ladies carried their way through the third set. They fought until the end."
NAU will vie for its fourth consecutive Big Sky regular season championship versus Eastern Washington on Sunday in its final match before the conference tournament. The Lumberjacks' two seniors – Lodewijks and
Eirene Granville – will be recognized prior to the 10 a.m. match at the ATC.
Results:
Doubles:
