FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (May 4, 2022) – Set to face their fourth Pac-12 opponent of the spring season, accounting for more than a third of the conference, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will soon make what has become an annual trip to a new foe.
Facing the No. 11-seeded Cal Golden Bears (16-7, 9-1 Pac-12) on Friday at 1 p.m. at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley, Calif., the Lumberjacks (12-7, 7-1 Big Sky) will meet a new opponent for the third consecutive NCAA Tournament. Having already played Utah for the first time in school history earlier this season, Cal makes nine of the 11 Pac-12 programs Northern Arizona has faced during the team's 48-year history.
It's the third straight trip west to California for the NCAA Tournament, with Northern Arizona heading to Malibu to face the Pepperdine Waves a year ago and to Los Angeles in 2019 for a matchup with the UCLA Bruins. Coupled with Northern Arizona's tournament debut in 1999 at Arizona State, the Lumberjacks are still seeking their first-ever victory in an NCAA match.
Falling 6-0 in 1999 with just six singles matches played against Arizona State, Northern Arizona also fell 4-0 in both 2019 and 2021 following doubles play and three completed singles matches.
During the 2019 match in Los Angeles, Adrianna Sosnowska and Chiara Tomasetti came close to an upset of the nation's No. 5-ranked doubles pairing of Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield before falling 7-5. A year ago,
Ellie Millard and
Mimi Bland's match at No. 1 was left unfinished against Ashley Lahey and Lisa Zaar with the scored tied 4-4 before
Gina Dittmann took her opening set 6-2 against Lahey, the No. 77-ranked player, and trailed 3-2 in the second set before the match was left unfinished.
Two of Northern Arizona's singles players enter the NCAA Tournament with lengthy win streaks, as Dittmann has won 15 consecutive singles matches dating back to Feb. 18 and
Sofia Markova has won 11 straight in singles since March 3.
Holding a 16-2 overall record, all at No. 1 this season, Dittmann ranks tied for third all-time at Northern Arizona with 30 career victories at No. 1 and holds the best singles win percentage, .912 (31-3), in school history. Markova's 13-4 record in her first season, with a 9-2 mark at No. 3, ranks among the best debuts for a Lumberjack in school history.
Ava Neyestani,
Elinor Beazley and
Laura Duhl are all coming off wins at the Big Sky Conference Tournament this past weekend, with Beazley on a three-match win streak thanks a pair of wins at No. 3 to close out the conference's regular season and a straight-set victory in the championship match on Saturday.
Dittmann also holds one of the top doubles records in school history, holding a 12-0 record alongside Neyestani. No other doubles pairing in program history has finished with a perfect record when hitting the minimum of 10 victories together. Dittmann and Neyetsani's mark placed them atop Northern Arizona's all-time doubles win percentage list, with a potential 12-1 mark still keeping them first in school history.
Ranked No. 11 in Wednesday's latest ITA Team Rankings, the Golden Bears ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation during the spring following a 4-3 upset of then No. 2-ranked Pepperdine in Malibu. Finishing as the Pac-12 regular season champions, Cal fell in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament to Arizona State on April 22.
Dittmann is set to matchup at No. 1 in singles with Cal junior Haley Giavara, who remained No. 63 in the nation in Wednesday's release. Sitting at 14-14 overall this season, including a 10-12 record in the dual schedule, Giavara finished last year ranked at No. 27.
Giavara and Dittmann have shared a few opponents during the season, most notably Washington's Vanessa Wong. During the ITA Women's All-American Championships in October, Dittmann defeated then No. 14-ranked Wong 6-3, 6-2. Giavara last faced Wong on April 9, beating the Huskies' No. 1 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 for the clinching point of a 4-3 victory.
Also ranked in singles is freshman Jessica Alsola at No. 71, who sits at 14-7 during the dual season and 31-9 overall this season. Holding a 10-5 record at No. 2 and a 4-2 mark at No. 3 during the spring schedule, Alsola would be in line to face Bland, who wrapped up her spring with the Lumberjacks at 7-4 overall, including a 6-3 record at No. 2.
From there, Cal's lineup regularly includes Katja Wiersholm at No. 3 (15-3 overall, 8-2 at No. 3), Julia Rosenqvist at No. 4 (14-5 overall, 11-5 at No. 4), Hannah Viller Moeller at No. 5 (1-8 overall, 8-2 at No. 5) and Erin Richardson at No. 6 (6-1 overall and at No. 6), though the Golden Bears used eight different singles players in the Pac-12 schedule.
Cal also has three doubles pairings ranked in the ITA Division I Doubles Rankings as well, with Giavara and Valentina Ivanov at No. 38, Alsola and Richardson at No. 59 and Alsola and Wiersholm at No. 90.
Giavara and Ivanov hold a 7-7 record during the spring, and 16-7 record overall, while primarily playing No. 1 in the Golden Bears' lineup. However, the two finished just 1-1 in Pac-12 matches together, with Alsola and Wiersholm finishing the dual schedule 9-3 overall, including a 7-1 mark at No. 2 and a 2-2 mark at No. 1. Richardson and Rosenqvist serve as Cal's primary No. 3 doubles pairing, holding a 15-5 dual record, including 14-4 at No. 3 and 6-2 in Pac-12 play.
Friday's match will be available to watch on the TennisONE App, which can be downloaded
here, and is the official app and streaming partner for both the Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships. The winner of Friday's match will play in Berkeley again on Saturday against the winner of Texas Tech and Loyola Marymount, who play at 10 a.m. before the Lumberjacks and Golden Bears begin.
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