FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (April 7, 2019) – At the beginning of their three-week homestand, the Northern Arizona women's tennis team was in in the midst of a four-match losing streak. Five wins later, the Lumberjacks have flipped their record around to 9-8 overall after a commanding 6-1 victory over Southern Utah on Sunday.
"It's a day and night difference," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "It took a little work and it took a little motivation. Kudos to coach Jordan (Gobatie) because he knows what buttons to push and strings to pull to get them going. It's been great teamwork over the past three weeks."
The Lumberjacks and Thunderbirds began Sunday's afternoon affair outside at the Aquatic and Tennis Complex tied for second place in the standings with identical 4-1 conference records, but the 'Jacks put together a complete team effort to hand the Thunderbirds just their second loss in their last 11 matches.
"We showed up in singles and doubles for the second day in a row," Bogusz said. "We faced some match points in doubles, but they showed again how mentally strong they are. We thrive in those moments and we don't shy away from the pressure."
Senior
Hanneke Lodewijks capped doubles play not only by clinching the doubles point, but also totaling her program record 54th doubles victory. The doubles point came down to the No. 2 court where Lodewijks and sophomore
Ellie Millard squared off against Southern Utah's Daniela Cozzi and Ghita Nassik, who were previously 8-1.
The NAU tandem had to fight off match point down 5-4, and eventually sealed the Lumberjacks' doubles advantage by rattling off three straight game victories. Junior
Chiara Tomasetti and freshman
Adrianna Sosnowska opened doubles play by cruising to a 6-0 win at No. 1 versus Alexandra Ngo and Hsuan Yu Lin.
Tomasetti was on her way to her 16th consecutive singles dual victory as she found herself leading Nassik, 5-0, in the first set before Nassik was forced to retire due to an injury. Tomasetti's win on court one pushed the Lumberjacks' lead to 2-0, but the Thunderbirds responded with a straight set win at No. 4.
Millard and freshman
Emilie Haakansson put away Southern Utah with victories at No. 3 and 5 respectively. Millard knocked off Cozzi – the Thunderbirds' wins co-leader with 12 – by a 6-3, 6-3 score before Haakansson rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Lin for NAU's fourth point.
Sophomore
Madi Moore similarly posted a dominating 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 6 versus Ngo and Lodewijks wrapped up the day with a win in the only three-set match of the afternoon. Lodewijks got past Charity Sagiao, 6-1, 6-7(0), 6-1 at No. 2 as NAU remains unbeaten versus Southern Utah in seven all-time meetings.
The Lumberjacks will head out on their final road trip of the regular season next weekend with matches at Montana State and Montana on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Results:
Doubles:
