JackCentral

The NAU women’s tennis team has made it to Big Sky Conference tournament finals three years in a row. For three consecutive years, the Lumberjacks’ hopes of winning a conference title have ended with a loss to top-seeded Sacramento State Hornets. The Hornets came into the match ranked No. 51 in the nation. The Lady Jacks were defeated 4-0 at the Gold River Racquet Club in Sacramento on Apr. 27.
“Its obvious there are two top teams in this conference.  Us and them,” said head coach Kim Bruno. “We were close, but they beat us. There is a reason why they are ranked.”
Freshman Orsi Golovics and Edit Suhajda struggled at No. 1 doubles for the second-seeded Lumberjacks, losing 0-8. After a win at No. 2 by NAU senior Stephanie Vallejos and freshman Amie Oki, the doubles point came down to the No. 3 match. Junior Leslie Vial and freshman Kim Van Ginkel were narrowly defeated 9-7 to give Sacramento State a 1-0 lead.
“We were really off today and they played really hard,” Golovics said. “We have to be more offensive out there.”
The Lumberjacks were overwhelmed in singles losing at the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 5 spots to give the match to the Hornets. The Lady Jacks were down in two of three of the other matches underway at the time.
“Today wasn’t our day,” Vallejos said. “We fought hard in doubles but lost. I felt we went into singles feeling down about that.”
NAU finished the season 8-2 in the conference and 15-8 overall, including a seven-game win streak that started in the beginning of March. The Jacks came into the title game on that seven-game win streak.   The Lumberjacks only conferences losses this season came against the Hornets, who did not lose a conference game all season. Sacramento State has won the Big Sky title the past seven years.
“I think some of the younger girls went in hoping we would win, not knowing we would,” Bruno said. “Sacramento State had no doubt. You can’t play with doubt in tennis.”
To reach the finals, the Lumberjacks defeated three-seeded Montana State 4-0 the day before. NAU took the double point, winning at the No.2 and No. 3 spots as well as leading at the No. 1.
“We came in knowing we have been working to get to the finals all year,” Vallejos said.  “We were going all out. The team pulled together.”
The Lumberjacks’ success would carry over to singles with wins at No.2, No. 3 and No. 6 by freshman Orsi Golovics, Stephanie Vallejos and Leslie Vial respectively.
“Stephanie set the tone by being the first off the court in doubles and singles,” Bruno said. “She stepped up and the team followed.”
The Lumberjacks finished the regular season with 14 wins, the most since 2002, which is also the highest number in Bruno’s three years at NAU. Bruno has increased her win total each season with 10 in 2006, 12 in 2007, and now 15 in 2008.
Wins for the Jacks this season came against teams like UC Davis and Santa Clara. The Jacks also gained non-conference wins against Idaho State and Gonzaga.
The Lady Jacks have not won the Big Sky title since 1999 and will now be without Vallejos, who is graduating.
“It’s an enormous loss for our team. She always played with poise and a championship mentality,” Bruno said. “It’s a shame the team couldn’t win it for her.”
The Hornets finished the season 21-6 overall, and a perfect 8-0 in Big Sky play.
The Hornets will play in the NCAA tournment starting this weekend.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.