LAS VEGAS, Nev. and PHOENIX, Ariz. (November 6, 2022) – Winning 17 of 22 total matches between singles and doubles this past weekend at the Larry Easley Memorial Classic in Las Vegas, the Northern Arizona men's tennis team wrapped up its fall schedule with a strong performance.
Led by Piotr Galus and Maikel De Boes victory in the doubles flight, in addition to
Dominik Buzonics win in Flight No. 2 of singles play, the Lumberjacks finished with 12 singles wins and five doubles victories between the group sent to Nevada.
Playing in their first semester as Lumberjacks, Galus and De Boes came up with wins against doubles pairings from UNLV, Utah and Idaho State en route to the flight victory. Opening the tournament with an 8-4 victory against UNLV's Aaron Bailey and Dusan Rsovac on Friday, Galus and De Boes followed up with another 8-4 win in Saturday's quarterfinals, beating Utah's Rian Ta and Mateo Julio. Moving on to the semifinals on Saturday, Galus and De Boes reached the final with an 8-6 win against Victor Skenkla and Wikus Robbertse of Idaho State.
Tasked with another team from the host school in the finals, Northern Arizona's pairing won 8-6 to claim the doubles title against Jackson Atherton and Anton Ornberg of UNLV.
After a bye in the first round,
Dominik Buzonics and
Alex Groves fell 8-2 to Utah's Jayson Blando and Michael Blando. Buzonics paired with
Dani Torres for an additional match on Sunday, defeating Grand Canyon's Paolo Rosati and Martim Marujo 8-6 to account for the Lumberjacks' fifth doubles win.
In singles play, an eventful first day saw three of the five Lumberjacks reach the semifinals of their flights. Galus opened Flight No. 1 with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory against Skenkla of Idaho State before beating Grand Canyon's Marujo 6-3, 6-2. De Boes punched his ticket into the semifinals with a bye in the first round and a 6-4, 6-3 win against UNLV's Ornberg in the quarterfinals.
Playing in Flight No. 2, both Buzonics and Groves had byes into the quarterfinals while Torres earned his place with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Ege Cankus of Idaho State. Torres and Groves fell in the quarters, to UNLV's Eduardo Cohen 6-3, 6-2 and to Idaho State's Robbertse 6-2, 6-3 respectively, while Buzonics put together a straight set win over UNLV's Atherton, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Before eventually winning the doubles flight, De Boes and Galus were forced to face off in the semifinals of Flight No. 1, accounting for one of the four singles losses over the weeknd. With De Boes emerging with a 6-3, 6-4 win, he joined Buzonics in the finals of their respective flights as the latter defeated UNLV's Thomas Navarro 6-2, 7-6 (4) in Flight No. 2.
Buzonics went on to defeat Robbertse 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in to win his flight while De Boes fell to Idaho State's Valentino De Pellegrin 7-6, 7-5 in his final.
Playing in additional matches on Sunday, Galus beat Idaho State's Hiroki Fujita 6-3, 6-2, as did
Alex Groves with a 6-3, 7-6 final score. Groves also beat Idaho State's Patrick Kristensen 6-3, 6-2 and Torres earned an additional win with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory against Slenka.
In Phoenix at the UTR tournament hosted by GCU, the Lumberjacks only suffered two losses through the entire weekend, earning 15 wins from
Facundo Tumosa,
Maciej Ziomber,
Daniel Dillon, and
Morgan Donovan.
The Jacks went undefeated in doubles play as Tumosa and Ziomber won their first match 8-6 to GCU's pairing of Loic Van Zeggelar and Mattia Ghedin. Following up with another day one doubles win was Dillon and Donovan, bringing in a 8-6 win to GCU's duo of William Alterback and Ntal Richards. During the second day, the Lumberjacks switched partners as Tumosa and Dillon paired up to take down Alsterback and Ghedin, followed by Ziomber and Donovan securing a victory over Richards and Van Zeggelar.
Tumosa, Ziomber, and Dillon all three went undefeated in singles play for NAU. Tumosa pulled out 1-6, 6-0, 6-2 win to Richards on day one of play, turning right back around to defeat Ghedin in a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 match. Tumosa secured his third and fourth singles victories of the weekend on day two with wins to Van Zeggelar and Alsterback.
Ziomber started off the weekend with a 6-3, 6-3 win to Van Zeggelar, capping the day off with a quick 6-1, 6-1 match to Alsterback. Ziomber went on to show his skill through day two winning both matches in quick fashion, as he secured a 6-0, 6-0 sweep against Ghedin and a 6-0, 6-1 victory to Richards.
Dillon brought in two singles wins through the two days, winning the matchup against Alsterback, 6-4, 6-4, and to Van Zeggelar in a 7-5, 7-5 match. Donovan won his singles match against Richards in a 6-1, 7-6(5) decision.
