After four straight victories, the Idaho women’s tennis team found itself on the losing end of a 4-3 battle against Northern Arizona Sunday in Flagstaff.
The Lumberjacks stole the doubles point and split singles play to hand the Vandals their first conference loss of the year.
After alternating victories on the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles courts, the Lumberjack duo of Hanneke Lodewijks and Brandy Walker defeated Ana Batiri and Maria Tavares 7-5 to claim the opening point.
The Vandals rebounded in singles play with commanding two-set performances from Lucia Badillos and Claire Yang, but Marta Lewandowska and Hailey Rochin helped Northern Arizona bounce back with a pair of wins. Marianna Petrei also picked up her 17th consecutive victory in league play following her designation as the Big Sky Women’s Tennis Player of the Week.
With Idaho trailing 3-2 in the late stages of the matchup, Chiara Tomasetti came through with a 6-1, 7-5 defeat of Jessica Brzozowska on the No. 2 singles court to pick up the win for Northern Arizona.
The Lumberjack win propels the team into sole possession of first place in the Big Sky with an 8-0 conference record. Idaho (10-6 overall, 6-1 BSC) drops to third in the conference standings behind Montana State (11-3 overall, 7-0 BSC).
The Vandals return to the court Friday and Saturday to take on Idaho State and Weber State in back-to-back Big Sky meetings. The weekend concludes with a road trip to Logan for a nonconference matchup with Utah State.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected]