Griz to play Northern Arizona in semifinals
4/25/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 25, 2014
A long day of tennis in California has finally come to a close.
No. 3 seeded Northern Arizona will play the Montana Grizzlies men's tennis team (11-11, 9-1 Big Sky) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Gold River, Calif. The Lumberjacks (13-8, 8-3 BSC) defeated No. 6 Northern Colorado 4-1 on Saturday evening, losing the doubles point before snatching four straight singles wins in the Big Sky Conference tournament's quarterfinal round.
The late finish time comes courtesy of the rain, as all four quarterfinal matches -- both men's and women's -- were moved inside with staggered start times.
The Griz and Lumberjacks met just four weeks ago, when UM notched a 6-1 win in Flagstaff, Ariz. In last month's match, UM won at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles, earning the doubles point. The Griz then won five of six singles matches. Tomasz Soltyka's loss at No. 3 went three sets, as did Andrew Warren's win at No. 2.
The middle of the lineup should prove to be very crucial in tomorrow's semifinal. NAU's No. 3 Fabio Tomasetti is 12-5 overall and 9-2 in conference matches, including Friday's win over UNC's Austin Mayo. Tomasetti defeated Soltyka 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 when the team's last met, which is still Soltyka lone conference singles loss of 2014.
NAU's Kester Black is 11-2, including an 8-2 conference mark, at No. 4 singles. Black won easily 6-0, 6-1 on Friday. Semion Branzburg defeated Black in tightly-contested 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 match earlier this year.
UM has been more successful in doubles in 2014, as NAU is only 14-11 in regular-season conference doubles, while UM is 23-6. Branzburg and Ethan Vaughn are 8-0 against Big Sky foes, while Soltyka and senior Mikolaj Caruk are 7-1 in conference doubles as a duo.
The Lumberjacks and Griz face off at 2 p.m.
Players Mentioned
