Womens tennis splits at home
Bryce Propheter - March 6th, 2008The NAU women’s tennis team played two key matches totaling 10 hours this weekend and came away with a split. The first match was Friday, Feb. 26 against non-conference UC Santa Barbara and lasted a grueling six hours as the Lumberjacks came up just shy with a 4-3 loss.
The match started at 10 a.m. with the doubles. NAU’s Orsi Golovics and Edit Suhajda lost to the UCSB duo in the No. 1 doubles match. But the team of Aimee Oki and Stephanie Vallejos edged the UCSB team 9-8 in the No. 2 doubles leaving the doubles point to be decided in the third match. There, the NAU duo of Stacey Pinchbeck and Leslie Vial fell 8-9.
“The doubles point is huge,” said assistant coach Richard Paulosky. “We just barely lost it.”
Going into the singles match, UC Santa Barbara already possessed the 1-0 edge because of their doubles victory.
Orsi Golovics lost to UCSB player Marta Simic in the No. 1 spot after winning the first set, she fell 6-3 in the remaining two.
Edit Suhajda (6-1, 6-4), Stephanie Vallejos (6-2, 6-1) and Kim Van Ginkel (6-1, 6-1) beat their UCSB counterparts soundly in the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 singles respectfully.
“We were really disappointed because a couple of the matches we lost in three sets,” said junior Stacey Pinchbeck.
In fact, all three singles losses the Lumberjacks incurred were in three sets. Pinchbeck lost the No. 4 spot 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and Paij Porter fell 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the No. 5 spot.
The Lumberjacks had several chances to close out the win, but ultimately fell short in a difficult and evenly-matched competition to UC Santa Barbara.
“It was a tough, close match,” Paulosky said. “And the doubles point decided it.”
On Saturday, the Lumberjacks faced Big Sky Conference rival Montana State and walked away with a much easier 5-2 win.
“I think today we came out even more fired up because it’s a conference match,” said senior Stephanie Vallejos.
The Lumberjacks cut down the Bobcats early on with a doubles victory. The Lumberjacks’ Golovics was paired with Edit Suhajda and Kim Van Ginkel with Leslie Vial for NAU victories in the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles spots respectively.
“We won the doubles point, we won early, and it made things a little easier,” Paulosky said.
This time being up by a point going into the singles matches allowed the Lumberjacks to secure the win after just the No. 4 singles match.
“We came out today ready to win and ready to play,” Pinchbeck said. “We knew what we had to do.”
Golovics was defeated in the No. 1 spot but NAU’s Edit Suhajda, Vallejos, Pinchbeck, and Paij Porter soundly defeated their Montana State counterparts in the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 spots respectively.
“When I came to pick them up, their energy was high, even after the UC Santa Barbara match,” said Paulosky, smiling. “It was obvious it was going to be a good day. And it’s always fun to win.”
The Lumberjacks women’s tennis team improved their Big Sky Conference record to 3-1 with the win and their overall record is now 9-7.
The Lumberjacks started the season on a 7-2 tear with their only losses coming to two nationally ranked teams, the University of Arizona and Arizona State.
They then fell on harder times, losing three consecutive from Feb. 9 to Feb. 22, and struggling with injuries to several key players.
With the solid win Saturday, the Lumberjacks hope they are back to their winning ways. Four out of their last five games will be played against Big Sky Conference teams.
Their next games are March 8 at Gonzaga and March 9 at Eastern Washington as they once again play back-to-back games.