FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Idaho men's tennis (5-10, 1-1 BSC) earned its first win at Northern Arizona since 2008, defeating the Lumberjacks (14-7, 2-1 BSC) 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. 

"It's a great win. Anytime you can win at NAU, it's pretty big," Head coach Daniel Hangstefer. "It's one of the highest, if not the highest altitude places to play in the country. They have a huge home-court advantage so being able to come in here and do that is huge. This one gives us a lot of confidence moving forward and this solidifies with the guys that we can win. Overall, it was a really good day."

The Vandals trailed 2-0 early before capturing four wins during singles play to pick up Idaho's first conference victory of the season and snap Northern Arizona's 12 match home win streak. 

NAU secured the doubles point to begin the match, claiming wins at No. 1 and No. 3. Matteo Masala and Alex Asenov captured a 7-6 verdict over Maciej Ziomber and Daniel Dillon at the No. 2 position. 

A 6-2, 6-2 win by the Lumberjacks at No. 6 singles had NAU up 2-0 with five singles matches left to be played. 

Masala continued to be a bright spot in singles action, as the Italian native captured a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Ziomber at No. 4 to get Idaho on the scoreboard. Masala improved his record to 9-4 in singles action on the season. 

Playing at the No. 3 spot, Bruno Casino opened up his match against Dominik Buzonics with a 6-3 win in set one. Buzon ics evened it up with a 6-4 victory before Casino ultimately earned the sweep in the final set, 6-0.

Francisco Bascon won Idaho's third straight match in a row at the No. 1 position, securing a three-set victory over Facundo Tumosa. The two traded wins in sets one and two (6-4, 5-7) before Bascon won 6-3 to put the Vandals up 3-2.

Mario Duron Garza clinched the match at No. 5, winning in straight sets 7-6, 7-5 over Chris Steele. The victory gets Idaho back in the win column for the first time since Feb. 26.  

The Vandals handed Northern Arizona its first conference loss at home since April 12, 2015 (Weber State, 4-3).

NEXT UP: Idaho will head to Cheney next week for a contest against Eastern Washington on Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m. It will be the seventh straight matchup on the road for the Vandals before the team ultimately returns home to Lewiston to settle in with four consecutive conference matches at LCSC Tennis Center.

MATCH RESULTS

Idaho 4, Northern Arizona 3

Doubles Competition
1. TUMOSA, Facundo/STRAKER-MEADS, Eban (NAU) def. Francisco Bascon/Bruno Casino (IDAHO) | 7-5
2. Matteo Masala/Alex Asenov (IDAHO) def. ZIOMBER, Maciej/DILLON, Daniel (NAU) | 7-6
3. BUZONICS, Dominik/GROVES, Alex (NAU) def. Francisco Gay/Mario Duron Garza (IDAHO) | 7-6

Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1

Singles Competition
1. Francisco Bascon (UI) def. TUMOSA, Facundo (NAU) | 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
2. STRAKER-MEADS, Eban (NAU) def. Francisco Gay (UI) | 6-4, 4-6, 5-7
3. Bruno Casino (UI) def. BUZONICS, Dominik (NAU) | 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
4. Matteo Masala (UI) def. ZIOMBER, Maciej (NAU) | 7-6, 6-2
5. Mario Duron Garza (UI) def. STEELE, Chris (NAU) | 7-6, 7-5
6. GROVES, Alex (NAU) def. Vivek Ramesh (UI) | 6-2, 6-2

Order of Finish: 6, 4, 3, 1, 5, 2

--