FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 26, 2021) – Rallying back from a loss in doubles, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks dominated singles play for their second victory in Big Sky Conference play.
Sweeping through all six first sets against the Idaho State Bengals (4-9), NAU pulled ahead on each court and closed out the team victory just two hours after starting the match. With the 6-1 win, the Lumberjacks improved to 3-6 overall and 2-0 in the Big Sky thanks to three straight wins in 10 days.
"We really had to respond and I think the guys really responded and did all the things we talked about between doubles and singles," said NAU head coach
Maciej Bogusz. "We came back with tremendous energy and that was the key in the victory today."
Facundo Tumosa evened the match at 1-1 with a victory at No. 1, beating Idaho State's Patrick Trhac while holding a lead throughout each set. Freshman
Maciej Ziomber wrapped up his victory on Court 5 just minutes after Tumosa, pushing the Lumberjacks ahead for the first time.
Ziomber's 6-1, 6-2 victory against Wikus Robbertse made it five straight dating back to March 11 against VCU, the longest individual win streak on the roster.
The team's next longest win streak also extended by one soon after Ziomber's win, as
Chris Steele closed out a 6-2, 6-1 victory at No. 4 to push the Lumberjacks to just one point away from the victory. Steele rolled to his win over Robert Steinhauer, putting together a dominant second set for this third straight win.
Needing just one of the final three matches to fall their way, the Lumberjacks closed out the day by sweeping through all of them in straight sets.
Alex Groves clinched the team win with his 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 6, with the attention turning to Courts 2 and 3 as
Eban Straker-Meads and
Dominik Buzonics battled through tight second sets.
Straker-Meads, the defending Big Sky Men's Tennis Player of the Week, came away with a 7-5, 7-5 win at No. 2, rallying back from a 2-0 deficit in the second to avoid a third-set tiebreaker. Buzonics fought back from 5-3 in his first set for the 7-6 win, and rallied again from being down 5-4 in the second to close out a 7-6, 7-5 win.
The sweep of singles came after the Lumberjacks opened doubles with a few leads before ultimately dropping the point. Ziomber and
Daniel Dillon took a 3-0 lead at No. 3, with their match left unfinished due to Idaho State's wins at No. 1 and 2.
Tumosa and Groves led 2-1 to open their match, but Trhac and Aleksander Petrovic closed out the win to clinch the point and temporarily give the Bengals an advantage on the scoreboard.
The Lumberjacks will wrap up Big Sky play on Saturday with another 10 a.m. match against the Weber State Wildcats. Already 2-0 in the conference, the Lumberjacks would lock up an already near certain berth in the Big Sky tournament with a victory over the Wildcats to sweep their shortened schedule.
Match Results
Doubles
Order of finish: (2,1)
* Clinched the doubles point
Singles
2. Eban Straker-Meads (NAU) def. Aleksander Petrovic (ISU) 7-5, 7-5
3. Dominik Buzonics (NAU) def. Jamie Castillo-Lopez (ISU) 7-6, 7-5
4. Chris Steele (NAU) def. Robert Steinhauer (ISU) 6-2, 6-1
5. Maciej Ziomber (NAU) def. Wikus Robbertse (ISU) 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: (1,5,4,6,2,3)
**Clinched the team victory
