FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (January 7, 2020) – Off the holiday break, the Northern Arizona women's tennis team hits the courts for the first time this spring in paradise at the three-day Weinman Foundation Invitational hosted by Hawai'i beginning Thursday. The Lumberjacks will be one of five teams competing at the spring season opening tournament on the island of Oahu that runs through Saturday.
Joining NAU and the host Hawai'i will be BYU, Louisville and Washington State. Along with NAU, Washington State was an NCAA Tournament participant last season, while NAU, Washington State and Hawai'i each boast nationally-ranked players entering the spring.
NAU hopes to build off a successful fall season in which a trio of 'Jacks – senior
Chiara Tomasetti, sophomore
Adrianna Sosnowska and freshman
Mimi Bland – earned the highest national rankings in program history. Tomasetti begins the spring as the No. 57 singles player in the Oracle ITA Division I Rankings while Sosnowska and Bland are slotted at No. 25 in the doubles rankings.
Tomasetti, who competed for her home country of Germany at the Master'U BNP Paribas International Collegiate Team Competition in late November, carries a 13-5 overall record into the spring season. She knocked off a pair of nationally-ranked opponents in the fall during which she claimed her second consecutive ITA Mountain Regional singles championship.
The reigning Big Sky Most Valuable Player was one of five players who totaled seven or more singles victories in the fall. Sosnowska posted 10 wins with fellow sophomore
Emilie Haakansson recording nine victories. Bland and freshman
Elinor Beazley posted eight and seven wins respectively in singles play.
Sosnowska and Bland enjoyed an exceptional fall season going 10-3 in doubles action and finishing runner-up at the ITA Mountain Regional Championships. The duo went on to compete at the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships where they upset Georgia's No. 19 ranked pair in the first round.
This week's tournament in Hawaii will be NAU's first matches of the spring as the Lumberjacks look to defend their Big Sky Championship. NAU returns five of its top six players in last season's lineup after compiling a 15-9 overall record.
In addition to Tomasetti, Sosnowska and Haakansson, juniors
Ellie Millard and
Madi Moore were part of NAU's primary lineup on last season's NCAA Tournament team. A sixth returner – senior
Sydney Roman – and NAU's two freshmen, Bland and Beazley, comprise this season's roster.
Of NAU's four opponents this week, Washington State posted the best record last spring at 19-11. The Cougars advanced to the NCAA Tournament out of the Pac-12 Conference. Hawai'i (10-10), BYU (11-11) and Louisville (10-15) each won more than 10 matches as well a year ago.
Play at the UH Tennis Complex begins at 12 p.m. MST on Thursday before continuing on Friday at 12 p.m. MST. The Weinman Foundation Invitational concludes on Saturday with a start time of 11 a.m. MST.
