The NAU men’s and women’s tennis teams won their respective matches this past weekend with upsets and close victories over their opponents.

Amid the weather and rough conditions that overtook Flagstaff on Jan. 21, the men’s team defeated the top-ranked Sacramento State Hornets 6-1 at the Flagstaff Athletic Club.

The Lumberjack men, who came into the spring season as the Big Sky’s sixth best team, played spoilers against conference leader Sacramento State.

Freshman Patrick Schimmelbauer runs for a return against Montana State on Jan. 23 at Flagstaff Athletic Club East. NAU won 7-0. Lisa Simpson / The Lumberjack

NAU sophomore Andrew Reiff had a strong singles performance in his win against the Hornets’ Anton Stryhas 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-2). The rest of the singles bouts were won quickly in either two or three sets. The Lumberjacks secured singles victories from sophomore Robin Pezzutto (6-2, 7-6), junior David Flodberg (6-3, 6-7, 7-6), and freshmen Kevin Taylor (6-2, 7-5) and Hugo Ramadier (7-6, 6-4, 6-4).

The doubles teams of Ramadier/Taylor and Reiff/Pezzutto capped off the day with victories of 9-7 and 8-6, respectively. NAU’s triumph over the Hornets was the squad’s first win over Sacramento State since a 4-3 showing in 2005. The upset also ended the Hornets’ Big Sky winning streak of 24, dating back to 2006.

The men kept their momentum through the snowy weekend with a 7-0 sweep of Montana State on Jan. 23.

The Lumberjacks won in dominating fashion in all their singles matches but fell in all but one doubles matchup. NAU’s singles effort proved strong once again with the squad taking four out of its six singles matches in two sets by Reiff (6-2, 6-1), Flodberg (6-0, 6-1), Taylor (7-6, 6-3) and freshman Patrick Shimmelbauer (6-3, 6-7, 6-3).

Sophomore Andrew Reiff attacks the ball during a singles match against Montana State on Jan. 22 at Flagstaff Athletic Club East. NAU won in singles play 7-0. Matt Beaty / The Lumberjack

Doubles competition from Montana State’s teams came as more of a challenge to the Jacks than what they had experienced against the Hornets. Ramadier and Taylor won a nail-biter 9-8 over Corey Smith and Pawel Turzanski of the Bobcats. Pezzutto and Reiff finished off the weekend with an 8-4 trouncing of Myles Perkins and Esteban Ferrero. The team plays its next three matches over the weekend in Las Vegas against UNLV, Utah State and St. Mary’s (Calif.).

Meanwhile, the women’s team disposed of the U.C. Santa Barbara Gauchos 4-3 while playing on the road in Tempe. The doubles merit went to the Gauchos as the Lumberjack duo of juniors Aimee Oki/Edit Suhajda and junior-freshman duo Yumi Hasegawa/Nicole Perez were both defeated 8-4.

Junior Orsi Golovics and freshman Malia Wahinepio kept NAU from a doubles sweep with a tough 9-8 win to keep their team competitive. The singles competition treated the Jacks less roughly. The women won their first three (of five) matches. Oki (6-2, 6-2), Hasegawa (6-1, 6-1) and Suhajda (6-4, 6-1) took victories for NAU in two sets.

It all came down to Golovics, the 35th ranked player in the nation, in a deciding match against Santa Barbara’s Sofia Novak. Golovics took the first set 6-4, but she faltered in a close second set at 6-7. In the third set, Golovics came through with a 6-3 clincher to take the match and secure NAU’s first spring victory of the 2010 season. The women’s next match is set for Jan. 30 against UA in Tucson.