Women's Tennis Earns Quick 7-0 Win Over Grand Canyon
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona women mimicked the
NAU men, winning every singles match in straight sets and sweeping
doubles in defeating Division-II Grand Canyon, 7-0, in less than
two and half hours Sunday afternoon at Flagstaff Athletic Club. The
Lumberjacks remained undefeated at home and improved to 4-2 for the
season.
“They had two very good players at the top positions and we
had to play tough to come away with a win,” director of
tennis Kim Bruno said. “We stayed focused at every position
and took care of business.”
The Lumberjacks swept doubles and almost posted shutouts in every
match. Junior Orsi Golovics and freshman Malia Wahinepio rolled to
an 8-0 win at No. 1, a perfect score that was matched by juniors
Edit Suhajda and Yumi Hasegawa at No. 3. Grand Canyon claimed a
point at No. 2 before NAU posted an 8-1 win to sweep the doubles
point.
Just as the Northern Arizona men did Sunday morning against the
Antelopes, the women won every set in singles, only losing 10 total
games in singles play. The most competitive match of the day came
at No. 1, where Grand Canyon’s Cecilia Vergnet pushed
Golovics before the NAU junior emerged with a 6-1, 6-3 win. Suhajda
outlasted GCU’s Stephanie Halderman, 6-0, 6-3 at No. 2, and
the Lumberjacks would only lose three total games at the four other
positions.
Also like the men, the Lumberjacks had two perfect singles matches,
at No. 3 and 6, as junior Aimee Oki and Hasegawa, respectively,
posted convincing 6-0, 6-0 wins. Hasegawa completed her sweep in
just 27 minutes, an astonishingly short amount of time that Bruno
said was the quickest match that she had seen in a long time.
“We condition our players to constantly put pressure on their
opponent, which helps keep them motivated to claim a defeat as
quickly as possible,” added Bruno. “Yumi was running
around and having fun trying to win as fast as possible. Tennis is
all about momentum shifts, and we want to can keep the pressure on
regardless of who we’re playing.”
The Lumberjacks will play matches on four consecutive days next
week in Las Cruces, N.M. and El Paso, Texas, opening with a dual
against Western New Mexico next Thursday at 5 p.m.
