FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (September 30, 2024) – Four players from the NAU men's tennis team traveled to Colorado Springs, Colorado to compete in the Bedford Cup. Three of the NAU players made it to the semifinals of their respective brackets.
The four Lumberjacks that went to Colorado were sophomore
Semen Agynskyy, sophomore
Jakub Prachar, freshman
Jakub Volesky, and junior
Takumi Katsuda.
Prachar and Volesky made their way to the semifinals of the doubles bracket. On their way to the semis, they faced Big Sky conference doubles teams. In the first round, the duo earned a bagel over Big Sky conference foes sophomore Dragos Bucurescu and freshman Moritz Lesjak from Montana. In the second round, Prachar and Volesky earned a victory over Weber State doubles pairing of junior Connor Kruger and sophomore Minh Tuan Dinh Viet, 6-4. The final win for the Lumberjack pair would come against the Montana State doubles team of graduate students Harrison Janes and Dmitry Bezborodov, 6-4. Prachar and Volesky would fall in the semis to a pair from Weber State, 7-5.
Lumberjack Katsuda saw much success in his singles bracket going to the finals. In all three of his matches before the finals, Katsuda would win in three sets. Katsuda lost in straight sets in the final by the score of 7-6(9), 6-3.
Agynskyy lost his first match in the Raptor bracket, losing in straight sets. However, he bounced back and won the west side of the bracket when he claimed victory over former teammate
Lance Urlaub who now is competing for New Mexico State in a 6-2, 6-4 final.
In the Eagle bracket, Volesky made it to the semifinals before he fell to TJ Wells from BYU, 6-3, 6-4. Volesky came away with two wins on his way to the semifinals with one of them being a straight sets victory over Air Force senior Luke Wolf, 6-4, 6-3.
Volesky did not play in the first round since he was one of the seven players to have a bye.
Prachar had two wins on his way to the semis of the Lightning bracket playing in three close matches. He had won the first match against Phillip Deaton 7-6(6), 7-5. In the quarterfinals, Prachar would come away with his second win beating BYU junior Adam Chodur, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(10). Prachar would ultimately be defeated in the semifinals by UNLV sophomore Illia Maksymchuk, 7-6(0), 6-3.
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