BERKELEY, Calif. (May 6, 2022) – Another appearance in the NCAA Tournament offered Northern Arizona sophomore
Gina Dittmann another chance to impress against one of the nation's top players.
Just as she did in the Lumberjacks' match against the Pepperdine Waves a year ago, Dittmann took the first set of her match at No. 1 before Northern Arizona ultimately fell 4-0 to the No. 11 Cal Golden Bears. Dittmann wasn't alone, as
Sofia Markova also battled with a nationally ranked player on Court 2 in the Lumberjacks' season finale to cap off another impressive year.
Before settling into singles play, Northern Arizona (12-8, 7-1 Big Sky) threw out a familiar doubles pairing on Court 1 that hadn't not played together since last year's NCAA first round match in Malibu. After missing nearly all of the season,
Ellie Millard returned to the court one final time alongside
Mimi Bland as the duo faced off with the No. 38-ranked pairing of Haley Giavara and Valentina Ivanov.
An All-Big Sky First Team doubles pairing from 2021, Bland and Millard opened the day by nearly taking a 1-0 lead after forcing the Golden Bears' top pairing to a break point. Though Cal's team survived and took a 2-0 advantage with a break of their own, Northern Arizona earned a break in the third game. With Bland on serve, the Lumberjacks faced a deciding point at 40-40 while looking to even the match at 2-2, but Giavara and Ivanov held on for a second break. From there, Cal's top pairing held on to run through the remainder of the games for a 6-1 victory.
"It's sad to see the season come to an end, but there were so many happy moments along the way, and we definitely finished on a high," said Lumberjacks head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "I'm especially happy for our super senior, Ellie, that she got to play her last collegiate match today. We will all miss her competitive spirit and we wish her all the best in the future endeavors."
A similar fate fell on Dittmann and
Ava Neyestani on Court 2 after opening the match with a win on serve. Tied at 1-1 with the No. 90-ranked pairing of Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm, Dittmann looked to force a deciding point, but Cal held on for the break. The pairing, which entered the day with a 12-0 record together, found themselves in multiple tight games facing 40-30 scores but eventually fell 6-1 as well.
On Court 3, Markova and
Laura Duhl bounced back after dropping the first three games of the day to take two of the final three against Erin Richardson and Julia Rosenqvist. Earning their first game on Duhl's serve, the two held serve again two games later with Markova at the service line. Trailing 4-2 in the match, Duhl and Markova entered singles with the match unfinished following the conclusion of Court 1 and 2.
With
Elinor Beazley and
Annabel Davis moving into the lineup for singles play in place of Bland and Millard, all eight Lumberjacks played on Friday afternoon, with three making their NCAA Tournament debuts.
For Markova, moving up a line onto Court 2 against the No. 71-ranked Alsola, it was an impressive start between doubles and singles. Down 4-1 in the opening set, Markova broke Alsola before winning on serve herself to cut the deficit down to 4-3. Though she dropped two of the final three games and her match went unfinished at 6-4, 3-0, the sophomore ended her season with an 11-match win streak still intact.
Just as she did a year ago, Dittmann stepped up when facing one of the nation's best. Ranked No. 63 in the ITA Singles Rankings, Giavara fell behind 3-1 against Dittmann after a break in the opening set and a pair of holds from Northern Arizona's sophomore. While Giavara evened it up at 3-3 thanks to a break point win, Dittmann answered right back with a break and won on serve to take a 5-3 advantage. Looking to clinch the set on serve at 5-4, Dittmann rallied back from a 30-15 deficit in the 10th and deciding game and landed a winner to the right after making Giavara run back-and-forth across the court.
Though Dittmann's match also went unfinished, with the sophomore down 2-0 in the second set, she too concluded the season with her 15-match win streak alive.
Moved up to No. 4, Neyestani split her opening four games with Wiersholm 2-2 before ultimately falling 6-2 in the opening set. The third and and final singles match left unfinished, Neyestani trailed 2-1 in the second as her match came to an early end.
Finishing their season with a 12-8 record overall, 23 consecutive wins in Flagstaff and 31 straight at home against the Big Sky Conference.
