Bobcat Women Fall to Northern Arizona in Season Finale`

Sunday, April 17

Bozeman

9 AM

Montana State University

Northern Arizona

Sophomore Charlotta Hjalmarsson upset Northern Arizona's Edit Suhajda at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-3, Sunday afternoon in the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center.

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

4/17/2011 3:37:22 PM | Women's Tennis

The Montana State women’s tennis team dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision to Northern Arizona, Sunday afternoon in the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center.

By: Tom Schulz

The Montana State women's tennis team dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision to Northern Arizona, Sunday afternoon in the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center.

Northern Arizona (12-9, 7-1) opened the match winning all three doubles contests to take a 1-0 advantage at the break.

Montana State (8-10, 5-3) answered as freshman Paulina Lopez posted a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Yumi Hasegawa at No. 3 singles. MSU's Charlotta Hjalmarsson followed with a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 1 over Edit Suhajda to give the Bobcats a 2-1 edge.

Suhajda entered the match ranked No. 20 in the Mountain Region.

“For a sophomore (Hjalmarsson) and freshman to earn victories over seniors and established players like Suhajda and Hasegawa really speaks for how well we are playing right now, not to mention the future of the program,” said MSU head coach Denise Albrecht.

The Lumberjacks captured wins at Nos. 2 and 4 singles to take a 3-2 advantage following a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory at the second spot by Orsi Golovics over another Bobcat newcomer Wena Tsan.

Montana State tied the match at three-all as junior Andrea De La Torre overcame an injury to notch a 6-4, 6-4 win over Nicole Perez at No. 5 singles.

“Andrea was thinking she needed to pull out of her singles match following doubles play,” Albrecht said. “However, she dug down deep and gutted out a great win for us, maybe her best of the season.”

The match was decided at No. 6 singles where NAU's Aimee Oki posted a 6-3, 6-3 decision over Lucy Fairbotham. Fairbotham held 2-0 leads in both sets, before succumbing to Oki.

The match was Montana State's final contest of the regular-season. The Bobcats secured the No. 4 seed in next weekend's Big Sky Conference tournament, which will be hosted in the BATC. MSU will face No. 1 seed Sacramento State. The Hornets are currently ranked No. 50 in the nation.

With the victory, Northern Arizona earns the No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 Montana in the opening round match-up.

Northern Arizona 4, Montana State 3

Singles: 1. HJALMARSSON, Char (MSU-W) def. SUHAJDA, Edit (NAU) 6-4, 6-3; 2. GOLOVICS, Orsi (NAU) def. TSAN, Wena (MSU-W) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); 3. LOPEZ, Paulina (MSU-W) def. HASEGAWA, Yumi (NAU) 6-1, 6-3; 4. WAHINEPIO, Malia (NAU) def. CRUM, Ellie (MSU-W) 6-4, 6-2; 5. DE LA TORRE, Andrea (MSU-W) def. PEREZ, Nicole (NAU) 6-4, 6-4; 6. OKI, Aimee (NAU) def. FAIRBOTHAM, Lucy (MSU-W) 6-3, 6-3. Doubles: 1. GOLOVICS, Orsi/SUHAJDA, Edit (NAU) def. HJALMARSSON, Char/LOPEZ, Paulina (MSU-W) 8-6; 2. HASEGAWA, Yumi/WAHINEPIO, Malia (NAU) def. DE LA TORRE, Andrea/CRUM, Ellie (MSU-W) 8-7 (7-4); 3. PEREZ, Nicole/OKI, Aimee (NAU) def. TSAN, Wena/VILLEGAS, Gabi (MSU-W) 8-3.