FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 10, 2019) – The Northern Arizona women's tennis team will make the trek to Colorado Springs, Colo. for the second annual ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains. The 2019 fall-opening tournament will be hosted by Air Force at the Air Force Outdoor Intercollegiate Tennis Courts with matches to start at 8 a.m. MST daily Thursday through Sunday.
The Lumberjacks – the reigning Big Sky regular season and tournament champions – will bring seven players to compete at the Bedford Cup headlined by senior
Chiara Tomasetti, sophomore
Emilie Haakansson and sophomore
Adrianna Sosnowska. The trio were all-conference singles players last season, while junior
Ellie Millard was also an all-conference honoree in doubles.
"We haven't had a lot of time to prepare for this tournament, so we're looking at it as preparation for tournaments later in the fall," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "We want to build character and the base for the future. It's great to see our freshmen buying into the program and the returners having fun on the court so far."
Tomasetti, last season's Big Sky Most Valuable Player, finished last spring ranked No. 110 nationally and No. 1 in the ITA Mountain Regional rankings. Tomasetti was named to the All-Big Sky First Team, while Haakansson was a Second Team selection. Sosnowska garnered honorable mention accolades.
The trio will be joined by Millard and senior
Sydney Roman, along with freshmen
Elinor Beazley and
Mimi Bland in the singles draws.
In doubles, Tomasetti and Millard – an All-Big Sky Doubles First Team honoree in the spring – will pair up with Sosnowska and Haakansson teaming up. Beazley and Bland, in their collegiate debuts, will form NAU's third doubles tandem.
NAU will be one of eight teams slated to participate at the Bedford Cup in the Mountains. In addition to the host Air Force, Colorado State, Montana State, New Mexico, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and Wyoming will be competing.
At last year's Bedford Cup, Tomasetti and Haakansson finished as the runner-up in their respective singles draws.
