FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (May 2, 2019) – After two decades away from the Big Dance, the Northern Arizona women's tennis team officially returns to the NCAA Tournament when they travel to seventh-seed UCLA on Saturday in the first all-time meeting between the two teams. The Lumberjacks' first round matchup against the host Bruins at the Los Angeles Tennis Center will get underway at 12 p.m.
The 'Jacks and Bruins will face off following the conclusion of the 9 a.m. morning match between San Diego (17-4), the West Coast Conference runner-up, and LSU (16-11) out of the SEC. The two winners will meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the second round. Tickets will be available for purchase prior to the match ($10 for adults, $8 for students and youth ages 3-16).
"We're back to work and we have a few days to get ready for the weekend," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "The ladies are really excited because they've earned this opportunity. Regardless of the result, we want to leave everything out on the courts."
Although NAU is the lone unranked team in the Oracle/ITA Division I Women's Rankings among the group (No. 9 UCLA, No. 28 LSU and No. 38 San Diego), the Lumberjacks are the only team to have won their conference. NAU earned the Big Sky's automatic bid – and swept the league regular season and tournament championships – by blanking Southern Utah and Idaho by 4-0 scores last week in Phoenix.
As the Big Sky tournament champions, the 'Jacks earned their first NCAA Tournament berth – and just second-ever – since 1999. Twenty years ago, the Lumberjacks fell to Arizona State, 6-0, in the first round. NAU enters the Big Dance with a 15-8 overall record having won a school record-tying 11 consecutive matches.
Five of NAU's six players in the singles lineup have logged double-digit victories led by junior
Chiara Tomasetti's single season program record 21 wins. Playing at the top of the lineup, Tomasetti is 21-1 this season at No. 1 and is the first Lumberjack ever to tally 20-plus wins in a dual season.
Freshman
Adrianna Sosnowska is second on the team with a 15-6 mark primarily at No. 4. Sosnowska owns the team's longest active win streak of five matches. Freshman
Emilie Haakansson is 14-5 primarily at No. 5 and sophomore
Ellie Millard is 11-10 primarily at No. 3. Sophomore
Madi Moore, NAU's primary No. 6 player, is the fifth Lumberjack with double-digit victories at 10-7 overall.
Millard, Haakaansson and Moore have all won six of their last seven decisions as has senior
Hanneke Lodewijks at No. 2. Lodewijks has thrived since missing the early part of the season with an injury and has totaled a 6-3 singles record.
NAU's top two doubles teams are tied with 13 wins apiece starting with Tomasetti and Sosnowska at No. 1. Lodewijks and Millard have been scorching winning their last 10 matches at No. 2 to bring their season record to 13-4. At No. 3, Moore and Haakansson are riding a five-match winning streak of their own, upping their record to 9-7.
Of note, Lodewijks and Millard can move into sole possession of second all-time in doubles wins as a tandem. They are currently tied for second with 28 career doubles victories together.
The Lumberjacks will take on one of the pillars of women's tennis in UCLA, who has been ranked in the top 10 nationally in 14 of 15 polls this season, in the first round. The Bruins fell to Stanford, the defending national champion, in the Pac-12 championship match and are 18-7 overall.
"We're not focusing on winning or losing; we're focusing on what we can control," Bogusz said. "We want them to believe in themselves and their teammates that we can beat schools like (UCLA). Believing this message this week."
UCLA is one of two programs, along with Stanford, to qualify for the NCAA Tournament each year since 1982 – the year the tournament format was adopted. The Bruins have won two national championships in 2008 and 2014.
The Bruins have three nationally-ranked singles players led by No. 32 Elysia Bolton, who leads the team with a 15-7 dual record. Jada Hart, UCLA's No. 1 player in the lineup, and Abi Altick are ranked No. 45 and No. 120 respectively.
Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield headline UCLA's doubles lineup at No. 1 and are ranked No. 5 nationally. Bolton and Hart are 16-4 in dual matches, with a 14-2 mark at No. 2, and is the No. 11 ranked pair in the nation. All three of the Bruins' primary doubles tandems are nationally-ranked.
