PHOENIX, Ariz. (April 28, 2022) - The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks are headed to the semifinals of the Big Sky Championships after a 4-1 victory to the Sacramento State Hornets on Thursday morning.
NAU went 1-2 in doubles play, ultimately dropping the doubles point after losses at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Alex Groves and Dominik Buzonics earned a doubles win at the No. 2 position in a 6-2 victory.
Eban Straker-Meads and Facundo Tumosa dropped their doubles match at the No. 1 position, falling to Sacramento State's duo Mark Keki and Mate Voros, 4-6, who finished the season undefeated in conference doubles play.
Maciej Ziomber and doubles pairing Daniel Dillon fell at the No. 3 position in a 3-6 loss to the Hornets' pairing of Patrick Wong and Rudolfs Aksenoks.
The Lumberjacks bounced back in singles play, winning four straight to clinch the match over the Hornets in the quarterfinal round of the Big Sky Championships.
Tumosa swept his match in two sets at the No. 2 position, going 6-0 and 6-2, taking down Sacramento's Voros. Tumosa earned the 'Jacks their first point of the day, while improving his overall singles record this season to 10-12.
Groves continued his win streak to four with a 6-1, 6-1 sweep at the No. 5 position. Groves' win came to the Hornets' Hayden Rand, moving his leading overall singles record to 19-6 through the season.
Freshman Dani Torres, in his first postseason match as a Lumberjack, finished his match to Sacramento's Aksenoks 6-4, 6-2, bringing the Lumberjacks within one point to clinch. Torres holds an overall record in singles of 11-6.
Ziomber clinched the winning set at the No. 4 position in a 6-3, 7-6, (7-5) match for the Lumberjacks. With the match win, Ziomber improved his overall singles record to 18-6.
Straker-Meads was in a third set, tied with Keki 3-3, ahead of their match being retired. Buzonics was in the tiebreaker at the No. 3 position with Sacramentos' Ori Maior, tied at 6-6 before their match was retired.
The Lumberjacks will now take on the No. 2 Montana State Bobcats in the semifinal round tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. MST at the Phoenix Tennis Center.
"We're super excited, we played a super close match that we probably should have won and closed out at their place, so we're very excited to take revenge on the neutral site," Head Coach Maciej Bogusz said.
To stay updated on the semifinals match, follow the 'Jacks on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for live updates.
Gallery: (4-28-2022) NAU vs Sacramento State - 4/28/22
