FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 27, 2022) - While facing their toughest Big Sky Conference matchup on Sunday morning, the Lumberjacks battled the Vandals on all courts, ultimately falling 4-3 in third sets and tiebreakers.
"We didn't close out a couple sets, we lost a couple tiebreaks and the rest in three sets. The guys still fought really hard and we were able to turn the doubles point around," Head Coach Maciej Bogusz said. "The slower start in singles hurt us today but it was just two good teams getting after each other."
Today's loss drops NAU's record to 14-7 overall, and 2-1 in conference play. NAU suffered their first conference loss of the season with five regular season matches left on the schedule.
Doubles play proved to be competitive on every court, as each match rallied back and forth between the Lumberjacks and the Vandals. Maciej Ziomber and Daniel Dillon moved into the No. 2 position, and dropped their match 6-7 in a 3-7 tiebreaker.
Playing at the No. 3 position, Dominik Buzonics and Alex Groves also faced a tiebreaker, earning the 'Jacks the 7-6 (7-4) victory. Following shortly after, Facundo Tumosa and Eban Straker-Meads secured the doubles point win for NAU, bringing in the 7-5 win at the No. 1 position.
Securing one of two of the Lumberjacks singles points, Groves earned a quick 6-2, 6-2 victory at the No. 6 position. Groves improved his singles record to 15-4, making the leap to leading the team in singles play through the season.
Ziomber fell to Matteo Masala at the No. 4 position, dropping the match in three sets, after a 7-6 first set win, and back to back 2-6 losses in the second and third set.
In another close matchup at the No. 3 position, Buzonics forced a third set after a 3-6 first set loss, and a 6-4 second set win. The sophomore was blanked by Bruno Casino in the third set, 0-6.
Tumosa dropped his match 4-6, 7-5, 3-6 for a heartbreaker at the No.1 position, followed by a 7-6, 7-5 loss at the No. 5 position by Chris Steele in his first match back from injury for NAU.
Straker-Meads finished out his match with a victory, earning the Lumberjacks their third point. The graduate student clinched the win at the No. 2 position with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory to Idaho's Francisco Gay, improving his overall singles record to 11-6.
"The better team won today, there's no excuses. We're still where we want to be, we have to make some better decisions at the end of the sets, there's no reason to panic," Bogusz said.
The 'Jacks will head back on the road this week for a pair of matches in Montana. NAU will take on the Bobcats on Friday at 2 p.m. MST, followed by a Sunday matchup in Missoula to face the Griz at 10:30 a.m. MST.
