Albuquerque, N.M (February 4, 2022) – Dropping all three matches during a closely contested doubles segment of Friday afternoon's match, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks bounced back with an impressive showing in singles play Friday afternoon in Albuquerque, N.M.
While the close play continued, with
Gina Dittmann,
Mimi Bland and
Ava Neyestani all needing an extra game to close out an opening set victory, the Lumberjacks (1-1) handed the New Mexico Lobos (3-1) their first loss of the season at 5-2.
"This was a good day for Lumberjack tennis," said Lumberjacks head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "We came in with high energy and set the tone for the season."
Sofia Markova put the Lumberjacks on the board first as she cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 to earn her first career spring victory, followed closely by Dittmann's win at No. 1. After outlasting Yue Lin Chen 7-5 in her opening, Dittmann closed out the victory with a 6-0 second set.
After New Mexico evened the team score 2-2 with a victory on Court 4, Bland brought Northern Arizona one win away from clinching the team victory. Fighting through a tiebreaker in the first set, Bland beat Sarah O'Connor 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 in the first set.
Down 4-1 in the opening set, Bland forced the tiebreaker and took ger first lead in the set with the 7-6 win. The junior started similarly in her second set, falling behind 3-0 before winning six of the final seven games to clinch the straight-set win.
It was the second tiebreaker of the day for Bland, who fell 7-6 (7-4) alongside Dittmann at Court 1 in doubles play. The match finished after Northern Arizona had lost the doubles point, with New Mexico winning 6-4 at No. 2 and No. 3 to start the day.
Needing just one win to lock up their first win of the spring season, Northern Arizona came up with two thanks to Neyestani and
Laura Duhl.
Duhl earned the clinching point with her 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win at No. 6. After briefly falling behind at 3-2 in the first set, Duhl came up with three straight games to enter the second in control. Nearly locking up the win in the second set, Duhl trailed by just one game for the majority of the set before losing 6-4.
Wrapping up the day with an extended two-set match, Neyestani took her match at No. 5 7-5, 6-1 to close out the afternoon. Trailing 3-0 in the opening set, the sophomore rallied back for the 7-5 win before cruising through her second set.
Due to the weather coniditons delaying their travel, the Abilene Christian Wildcats will not face Northern Arizona on Saturday in Albuquerque. The Lumberjacks next matches will be in Tucson, Ariz. against Arizona and San Jose State on Feb. 18 and 19.
For updated scores and coverage of the NAU women's tennis team during the spring season, follow the team on
Twitter,
Instagram and
Facebook.
