FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (May 6, 2021) – Two years ago, in head coach
Maciej Bogusz's first year with the men's tennis program, Northern Arizona University made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
While the team fell 4-0 to No. 8 USC, Bogusz and NAU's remaining players from its record-breaking season learned plenty that they will now take into Saturday's first-round matchup with the No. 4-seeded Texas Longhorns (20-5).
"We had very little chances early in the doubles against USC," Bogusz said. "I think we didn't take advantage of that, Maybe we shied away a little thinking we will have other chances and that never really happened."
Set to begin at 10 a.m. locally in Flagstaff, 12 p.m. at the Texas Tennis Center in Austin, Texas, NAU's second NCAA match also serves as Texas' first since raising the NCAA trophy in 2019. With the cancellation of the 2020 tournament, the Longhorns remain the defending champions after winning the first title in program history over Wake Forest.
Texas is hosting the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year and the sixth time in the past seven years in which the tournament has been held.
With four players ranked in the Oracle ITA Division I singles rankings, as well as a trio of doubles teams, Texas obviously offers NAU (8-8) a much greater challenge than any other matchup this season.
"As athletes and humans in those big moments, we try to be a little bit too conservative and we try to just see what's going to happen," Bogusz said. "We have to take our chances. We are definitely going to be taking advantage of all those little opportunities we have in the matches. Break points, decide points, we are going to be playing a little more freely, not as conservative. Otherwise it's very hard to beat those teams that are national contenders like Texas."
Sophomore Eliot Spizzirri leads the four ranked Longhorns, landing at No. 23 in the ITA's most recent singles rankings with a 22-9 record this season, 15-8 in dual matches.
Freshman Michah Braswell follows at No. 38, 32-6 overall and 17-5 in duals, with sophomore Siem Woldeab at No. 75 with a 14-12 overall record, 9-7 in duals.
Sophomore Cleeve Harper rounds out the quartet of ranked underclassmen at No. 108, holding a 22-9 overall record and a 17-5 mark during the dual match schedule.
Spizzirri and Woldeab have split Texas' matches at No. 1 while Braswell joined the two in the mix at Court 2 this year. Along with Harper, all four played at least one match at No. 3 this season, though Spizzirri did so just once. Harper's 14-3 record on Court 4 marked the most matches won and played by a single player at a specific spot in the order this season.
Woldeab and Spizzirri's No. 11 ranking leads the team in doubles, with a 12-9 record on Court 1 this season. Harper and junior Chih Chi Huang enter the weekend at No. 78 with a 6-4 record in doubles, primarily playing at No. 2.
Woldeab and senior Payton Holden are also ranked at No. 73 in doubles, though the two did not play together during the dual match schedule. Holden primarily paired with Braswell to close out the regular season.
Facundo Tumosa and
Chris Steele each played against USC in 2019, with the former on Court 3 in both singles and doubles while the latter played at No. 4 in singles and at No. 2 in doubles.
Steele's first set went to 7-5 before his second set wrapped up earlier as his match went unfinished. Tumosa also went unfinished in singles as he trailed No. 40-ranked Laurens Verboven 6-1, 5-2.
Now NAU's graduate assistant coach,
Ruben Montano paired with
Tim Handel on Court 1 in doubles and matched USC's No. 10 pairing of Brandon Holt and Riley Smith with the score 4-3 before it was left unfinished as the Trojans clinched the other two courts.
Saturday's match can be streamed at Texas'
website, with live stats also available
online. The winner of Saturday's match will face either No. 27 UCLA (13-6) or Northwestern (13-7) who open the day at 7 a.m. PT/9 a.m. CT before the Lumberjacks and Longhorns' match begins.
