FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (April 7, 2024) – NAU Tennis (13-6, 4-1) earned its seventh-straight victory in Flagstaff with a 5-2 win over the Idaho State Bengals (11-9, 3-3) on Sunday afternoon.
"Idaho State is full of competitors, so you've got to always be ready for a battle against them, we knew it was going to be a really good match," head coach
Maciej Bogusz said. "We had no holes today in the lineup, those battles are what I want to see as a coach."
While both teams sought the doubles point for an early advantage, both of NAU's top pairings of
Dominik Buzonics and
Jakub Prachar at the No. 1 as well as the No. 2 duo of
Maciej Ziomber and
Dani Torres recorded breaks to open doubles play 1-0. At the No. 3,
Semen Agynskyy and
Maikel De Boes tied things up at 1-1 while each court remained a battle.
Torres and Ziomber hit a line shot at the No. 2 court to take a 2-1 lead while Buzonics and Prachar also grabbed a 2-1 lead as De Boes and Agynskyy fell behind, trailing 3-1 at the No. 3.
Buzonics and Prachar picked up NAU's first doubles win with a 6-3 final at the No. 1. While De Boes and Agynskyy made a slight comeback at the No. 3 down 1-4, the duo would fall 3-6 while Idaho grabbed the first doubles victory for the Vandals. With the doubles point coming down to the No. 2 position, NAU's duo of Torres and Ziomber battled back from a 2-5 deficit to secure a 7-6 (7-2) victory and secure the 1-0 lead for NAU heading into singles play.
Ziomber put the Jacks on top 2-0 with a dominant match at the No. 5 court, bringing in a 6-1, 6-3 victory over ISU's Hiroki Fujita. With today's win, Ziomber improves to 10-3 overall in singles play, making him just the third Lumberjack this season to reach 10+ singles wins.
Prachar would then give NAU a 3-0 advantage with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Wikus Robbertse at the No. 6. Prachar is now 9-2 in singles matches this season. Buzonics dropped a hard-fought match at the No. 1 to ISU's Valentino Pellegrin in a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 match.
Securing the victory for NAU, De Boes capitalized on the comeback over Andreas Kramer with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 final to put NAU at 4-1 with three singles matches yet to finish. De Boes has now secured six-straight wins at the No. 3 position, improving his overall singles record to a team-high 12-5.
Agynskyy fell short in the comeback effort, pushing three sets against Patrick Kristensen in a 2-6, 6-4, 4-6 final. Closing out the match with another victory for NAU,
Dani Torres found a three-set victory over Victor Sklenka in a comeback battle at 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4 for NAU to finish the match at 5-2 for their second-straight win as a team.
NAU will now head on the road for two Big Sky matches at Montana State and Montana, ahead of the final home game on April 20 where NAU will host Idaho for Senior Day. To stay up to date with NAU Tennis, follow the Jacks on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for all updates, and follow #RaiseTheFlag to stay up to date with all NAU Athletics news.
