PHOENIX, Ariz. (April 30, 2022) – In what has become a home away from home for the Northern Arizona women's tennis team, the Lumberjacks made it six consecutive victories at the Phoenix Tennis Center to earn their third straight Big Sky Conference Championship.
Entering Saturday morning's match looking for both a bit of revenge and redemption from their lone Big Sky loss this season and their first since the 2019 season, the Lumberjacks fought their way to another early lead via the doubles point against the Weber State Wildcats before taking a trio of straight set victories. The victory makes it three straight conference tournament titles, as well as NCAA Tournament appearances for
Ewa Bogusz and the Lumberjacks, and the sixth conference tournament title in program history.
"They can be proud of themselves for all the work they have done. They knew what they wanted and they went after," said Lumberjacks head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "It's just so impressive how clean it was today. They stepped up in doubles, we played so smart. After we got that doubles point, I think they felt the momentum and just kept rolling with it. They were in the zone."
Having been swept in doubles by the Wildcats back in late February and dropping the point in last year's championship match against Weber State, the tide swung in Northern Arizona's favor less than an hour into the championship match.
Entering on an 11-match win streak, the pairing of
Gina Dittmann and
Ava Neyestani rallied from an early 2-1 deficit to keep their streak alive on Court 2. Earning a break point to even the match with Weber State's Sicely Ferreira and Megan Davies at 2-2, the Lumberjacks proceeded to take five of the final six games. Neyestani followed the break with a hold on serve, and Dittmann answered Weber State's service win with one of her own at deuce to keep the lead at 4-3.
The pairing then came through with perhaps their biggest win as a doubles team, breaking the Wildcats for a 5-3 advantage and setting Neyestani up for the 6-3 victory on serve at No. 2.
"We just kind of went into this match with the mindset of getting the doubles point. It was our No. 1 goal I feel like," Neyestani said. "Obviously playing with Gina, we are very compatible on the court with each other, so I feel like it works out great. I am very proud of our win today and I feel like it definitely helped us put a foot in the right direction."
With a match in hand, and
Mimi Bland and
Annabel Davis in a battle down 5-4 at No. 1,
Laura Duhl and
Sofia Markova took control of Court 3 at the perfect time.
Tied 4-4 coming off their second break point of the match, Duhl and Markova closed out a dramatic pair of final games against Weber State's Yuuna Ukita and Megan Lombardi. With Markova winning on serve for a 5-4 advantage, the Lumberjacks jumped ahead 40-0 while on the receiving end. Weber State's duo survived three match points to force the game into a deciding deuce point, but Northern Arizona closed it out for a 6-4 victory.
Moving into singles play with plenty of confidence, the Lumberjacks soon jumped ahead on all six courts. While just four held on for first-set wins, Northern Arizona built what seemed to be an insurmountable lead less than an hour into singles play. Dittmann and Markova each won their openers 6-2 on Courts 1 and 3 respectively, while
Elinor Beazley and Neyestani took 6-4 advantages on their side-by-side courts at No. 4 and No. 5.
Dittmann made it 15 consecutive wins in singles with a 6-2, 6-0 Davies, continuing her perfect career record against the Big Sky Conference. While Bland fell at No. 2 to Ana Morett 6-4, 6-2, bring the Wildcats back within a point at 2-1, Beazley, Markova and Neyestani maintained control on their courts to make the Lumberjacks repeat an inevitability.
First it was Beazley, who was left as the lone unfinished match a year ago, to lock up her match at No. 4. Leading 2-1 early in the second set, Beazley traded break points back and forth with Ukita to ultimately lead 4-3 heading into a changeover. With Neyestani leading 4-2 one court over, Beazley held for a win on serve and closed out Northern Arizona's third point.
"Momentum is a very big thing. I knew we had a really good chance of winning today after the doubles point and after Gina," Beazley said. "It was a really close match in the first set and the second set was a bit tight as well, so when I pulled through, you could see how excited I was after I finished that match. I was just overjoyed. Conference is such a different tournament to the rest of the season, and I am just happy I could perform and help the team."
From there, the drama turned to which Lumberjack could close out the win first. Playing on separate three-court settings, Markova and Neyestani nearly matched one another point for point in their pursuit of the clincher. Sending their teammates running back and forth to each court, Neyestani went from a 4-2 lead to 5-4 while Markova led 4-1 and then 5-3 with a 40-0 lead at match point.
However, with Neyestani at deuce against Ferreira, the sophomore came up with the clinching point in her home state. Just as Scottsdale native
Madi Moore did a year ago on Court 6 against Ferreira, Neyestani wrapped up Northern Arizona's third title in front of her family on Court 5.
"I for sure felt the pressure. It's clinching conference, so it's obviously a very exciting moment but I kind of just went into the point thinking this is it," Neyestani said. "You've hit this same return a million times in a row, just play the tennis you know how to play, and everything will work out."
Northern Arizona now awaits its NCAA Tournament fate on Monday at 3:30 p.m. as the field is announced on NCAA.com.
For updated scores and coverage of NAU Women's Tennis throughout the remainder of the postseason, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
