FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (April 15, 2023) — For the first time since the 2019 season, the Jacks have outright clinched the Big Sky regular season title after going undefeated in conference play with today's 6-1 victory to Weber State.
Marking the team's 12th straight win this season, NAU took down the only other undefeated Big Sky team in the Weber State Wildcats on Saturday afternoon as the Jacks closed out the Big Sky regular season with a championship under their belt.
In an intense doubles session, the Jacks stuck with the normal lineup with Facundo Tumosa and Maikel De Boes at the No. 1, Alex Groves and Piotr Galus at the No. 2, and Dominik Buzonics and Daniel Dillon at the No. 3.
Buzonics and Dillon took an early 2-0 lead as Dillon was looking to close out his last home match with a victory. Going up 5-3, the duo closed out the match for the first doubles victory for NAU at 6-4 to Weber State's Sebastian Buxman and Matteo Savio.
Tumosa and De Boes had a slow start with a 1-3 score before bouncing back to 3-4. The pairing tied things up at 4-4 at the same time as Groves and Galus on court two, making both matches crucial for the doubles point. Tumosa and Groves dropped the next two, falling at the No. 1 in a 6-4 match.
Dropping the first point of the match, Groves and Galus bounced back to tie things up at 1-1. Going down 3-4, the two earned a huge point to tie things back up at 4-4 in a tight match at court two. Groves and Galus were down 5-6, battling for the doubles point, Galus' serve led the pair to tie it up at 6-6 heading into the tiebreak. The duo secured NAU's doubles point with a 7-6 (7-4) victory to WSU's William Zulch and Connor Kruger.
Similar to yesterday's singles lineup, De Boes started at the No. 1, Tumosa at the No. 2, Galus at the No. 3, Buzonics at the No. 4, Groves at the No. 5, and Dani Torres at the No. 6.
In Torres' first match of the weekend, the sophomore picked up a dominant 3-0 lead to start things off against Jordan Coutinho. Torres took a 6-2 first set victory before moving on to do the same through the second set with a 6-2 win, giving the Jacks their second point in the match.
Galus faced off against WSU's Kruger at the No. 3 where NAU's sophomore didn't let up his momentum from the doubles matchup, taking an early 4-1 lead. Galus held the lead for a 6-1 first set victory. With an early break in the second set, Galus went up quickly at 1-0 before closing out the match at 6-0. Holding the edge, Galus put the Jacks third point on the boards with a 6-3 victory.
Groves continued off of his doubles momentum, going up 2-1 at the No. 5 against Zulch. Zulch battled back to take a 3-2 lead before Groves battled back to win the set at 6-3. Closing out his final home match, Groves earned NAU's fourth point of the match with a 6-0 second set to secure the Jacks victory.
Buzonics took an early lead to Elyes Marouani going up 3-2 on court four, taking the next three games for a 6-2 first set victory. Buzonics held strong with a 3-2 lead in the second set before closing out the match at 6-3 and putting the Jacks up 5-0 in the match.
Tumosa began his singles match against reigning Big Sky player of the week in WSU's Tristan Sarap, earning a break to take a 1-0 lead. Tumosa led the first set consistently, earning a 6-2 victory. Heading into the second set, Tumosa was in a 1-2 hole before battling back-and-forth to tie things up at 5-5. Tumosa held on for the tiebreak win at 7-6 to give the Jacks a 6-0 match.
On court one, De Boes took on Buxman as Buxman began the match with the serve. De Boes battled for the break to go up 1-0. In one of the closest singles matches of the day the two went back-and-forth as the match tied up at 6-6 before Buxman took the 7-6 win in the tiebreak. With an impressive between the leg hit for De Boes, NAU's freshman took the 1-0 lead in the second set, before the two players tied things up at 3-3. Buxman battled back to claim 6-4 win for WSU's lone point of the match.
The Jacks will close out the regular season next week in Phoenix with a Saturday match at GCU before heading to Phoenix the following weekend as well for the Big Sky Tournament which is set to take place from April 27-29 at the Phoenix Tennis Center.
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