FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 8, 2024) – Heading out of state for another two contests this weekend, the Lumberjacks (3-3) will jump back into action at UNLV (4-2) on Friday while sticking around for a Saturday neutral match against LMU (2-0). Friday's match against the Rebels will start at 4 p.m. MST, while Saturday's match against the Lions will begin at 1 p.m. MST.
Looking to break open the .500 record to start the season, NAU begins a four-game stretch of road matches in the month of February. The Lumberjacks are returning to action following the program's first-ever ITA Kickoff Weekend appearance, after travelling to Virginia to take on the No. 3 Cavaliers and Pennsylvania. Although falling in both matches 4-1, the Jacks are hoping for the rare experience to transfer in upcoming non-conference meetings.
Newcomers
Jakub Prachar and
Lance Urlaub have each found success in singles play on the year, each posting a 2-0 start to the season coming at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions. Senior
Dominik Buzonics is the lone Lumberjack to play at the No. 1 this season, going 2-2 while recording two wins in NAU's home opener double-header against Western New Mexico while holding the edge to Penn's Manfredi Graziani in NAU's last time out before the match went unfinished.
Dani Torres leads the team in overall singles victories, holding a 3-1 record. Torres found success in the Wichita State match to open the season, closing out the match in two sets. The Junior also tabs a win over Western New Mexico and most recently a win over Penn's Kian Vakili which needed a 6-1, 7-6 (7-0) tiebreak.
With a 10-6 record as a team in doubles play, NAU's pairings of
Piotr Galus and
Maikel De Boes alongside
Maciej Ziomber and
Dani Torres each have posted three doubles victories as duos. Galus and De Boes lead the team overall with a 3-1 record, recording wins to Wichita State, Western New Mexico, and Penn. Ziomber and Torres hold a 3-2 record together against Wichita State, Arizona State, and Western New Mexico. Torres adds another doubles victory to his resume with freshman
Semen Agynskyy against WNMU.
The UNLV Rebels are off to a 4-2 start to the season, while yet to play a Mountain West contest, the team will look to bounce back from a 5-2 loss to USC on Feb. 3. USC took the doubles point, but just barely. The squads split at the top and bottom of the lineup but the Trojans rallied for a 7-5 win at No. 2 to clinch. UNLV's win came from
Joseph Chen and
Aaron Bailey on court three, 6-4, over Karl Lee and Niroop Vallabhaneni.
UNLV men's tennis player Anton Ornberg earned his first career Mountain West Player of the Week award, the league announced Wednesday.
The native of Stockholm, Sweden, only played one team match last weekend but posted the biggest ranked win of his time in Las Vegas. With the Rebels on the road vs. No. 7 USC, the senior rallied to stun the Trojans' player at the top of the lineup, upsetting No. 39 Peter Makk 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6) to improve to 4-1 in dual matches this season.
LMU will enter the weekend 2-1, with a win to BYU and UC San Diego to open the season before falling 6-1 to the UCLA Bruins yesterday.
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