PHOENIX, Ariz. (April 22, 2023) — The Northern Arizona Men's Tennis team closed out their regular season with a Saturday victory to Grand Canyon University in a 6-1 match in Phoenix, extending the team's win streak to thirteen matches straight.
With today's dominant victory, the Jacks write their names in NAU's record books as the season win percentage stands at a program best of 91.3 percent. Only suffering two losses to Denver and ITA ranked No. 17 Arizona, the Jacks will head into the Big Sky tournament with an overall record of 21-2, while going an undefeated 7-0 in conference, giving NAU the No. 1 seed to begin the tournament in Phoenix next weekend.
Starting the day with a three-court doubles sweep, Daniel Dillon and Dominik Buzonics got things going at the No. 3 with a 6-3 victory to GCU's Wyatt Anderson and Mattia Ghedin for the duo's fifth straight win while improving their overall doubles record as a pairing to 9-1.
Maikel De Boes and Facundo Tumosa followed suit with a 6-4 victory at the No. 1 to the Lopes pairing of David Wekesa and William Alsterback. De Boes and Tumosa claimed their eighth win at the top of the lineup while improving to 9-2 together. Closing doubles out, Piotr Galus and Alex Groves picked up another tiebreak victory in a 7-6 (7-4) match while facing GCU's Martim Marujo and Loic Van Zeggelaar at the No. 2. Groves and Galus' 17-3 doubles record leads the Jacks in overall doubles as a pairing.
Dani Torres stepped into the No. 6, closing out a quick and impressive victory to Ghedin with a 6-1, 6-0 win. Torres' victory improved his season record to 14-2, while the sophomore has won his last seven matches. Picking up the Jacks third point at the No. 3, Tumosa closed out a 6-3, 6-2 match against Wekesa for the senior's eighth straight victory while improving his overall record to 16-5.
For the second consecutive match, Groves clinched the match for the Lumberjacks, as the senior picked up a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the No. 5 to GCU's Alsterback. Tied with Buzonics, Groves leads the Jacks in singles play with a 11 match win streak and a 16-2 overall record.
De Boes began the match with a hot start, claiming a 6-3 first set win to Marujo, before Marujo forced a tiebreak after a 3-6 second set and GCU's top player was able to take the tiebreak in 10-8 fashion for the Lopes only point of the match. Galus moved up a spot into the No. 2 where the sophomore had no trouble adjusting as he claimed a 6-2, 6-4 win to GCU's Alfred Almasi to improve his overall singles record to 19-3. Buzonics closed out the match with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win against Paolo Rosati on court 4, giving the Jacks the 6-1 victory on the road.
With NAU's No. 1 seed in the conference tournament set to begin next Thursday in Phoenix, the Jacks will have a first round bye and will play in the semifinal match on Friday morning. With a few Big Sky matches still wrapping up this weekend, the bracket will be announced on Monday.
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