NAU women’s tennis (6-3, 2-0 Big Sky) played only three of the four scheduled matches over the weekend in both New Mexico and Texas due to rain canceling Sunday’s action against New Mexico State. Counting the actual games played, the Jacks took two of three against the Western New Mexico (WNMU) Mustangs, 7-0; and Texas Pan-American (UTPA) Broncos, 6-1; while falling to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners, 5-2.

Facing the Mustangs Feb. 25, the match was a clean sweep as NAU took every doubles and singles match. The closest singles bout was with junior Orsi Golovics against Nikolina Vukadin 6-3, 6-2. Juniors Edit Suhajda (6-0, 6-0), Nicole Perez (6-1, 6-0) and Yuma Hasegawa (6-2, 6-0) won their matches quickly. In doubles, NAU was dominant with wins of 8-0, 8-1 and 8-3.

On Feb. 26, the Lumberjacks’ four-match streak came to an end against UTEP with a 5-2 final score. The Jacks started by losing two of three doubles in close fashion by sets of 9-7 and 8-5. In singles, NAU lost four of six with Hasegawa and Perez being the sole winners. Suhajda lost in a tough match 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, as did freshman Malia Wahinepio 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

“I would have liked to have seen the girls tough it out and learn from it a bit more,” said head coach Kim Bruno. “It was a long weekend. I think the girls and guys both showed a lot of character.”

The Jacks ended up playing their last match on Saturday against a winless UTPA squad with a 6-1 victory. The Broncos were shorthanded with only five healthy starters; thus, NAU took the No. 3 doubles by default after winning the first two matches. The Lumberjacks took four of the five singles in strong fashion, with the sixth match being defaulted to NAU.

The NAU men’s team also was rained out for part of their match against Idaho, but previous matches led the Jacks to coming out of the weekend at 8-4 and 3-0 in the Big Sky.

The weekend began with a close win against UTEP, 4-3 on Feb. 25. NAU dropped all three doubles and the first two singles matches but rallied with the remaining four to win.

“We played a long, really tight match,” said junior David Flodberg. “I think we reached a new level when we beat Pan-American. I was down 5-2 in the last match and came back to win [7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)]. It was a great feeling to win that for myself and the team.”

Other wins included freshmen Kevin Taylor [6-4, 7-6 (7-5)] and Hugo Ramadier (6-7, 6-2, 6-2) and sophomore Robin Pezzutto (6-3, 6-3).

The Jacks’ five-match winning streak ended as they fell to Texas-Arlington 5-2 on Feb. 26. The Lumberjacks dropped the first two doubles for the second consecutive match, but the duo of Pezzutto and fellow sophomore Andrew Reiff won the match 8-5.

The Jacks’ tough trip ended with a 7-0 loss by the rackets of the 59th-ranked New Mexico State Aggies.

The team of Pezzutto/Reiff came closest in doubles with an 8-6 match, while Reiff almost won his singles with a hard fought 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 loss against Jim Brouleou of the Aggies.

“Those last two matches were against two very good teams,” said coach Rich Paulosky. “It helps us define where we need to go. We have the opportunity to evaluate ourselves going forward because of this weekend.”

NAU is home this weekend at the Flagstaff Athletic Club, with the women hosting Montana March 5 at 10 a.m. and the men playing Scottsdale Community College March 7 at 1 p.m.