CEDAR CITY, Utah -- Southern Utah men's tennis team came up short against Northern Arizona University in St. George on Monday, 2-5.

In the doubles competition, Northern Arizona came out strong and took the No. 2 and 3 spots to claim the doubles point. Conor Tordoff and Jonathan Morales put up a fight in the No. 1 spot, but at 6-6 the match was unfinished.

Pablo Guerra Garcia de Celis led out in the singles competition winning in the No. 5 spot, finding his groove to win 6-1, 6-1, putting the score to 1-1 overall.

In the No. 3 and 1 spots, NAU responded with wins to put the Lumberjacks up 3-1.

Northern Arizona and Southern Utah fought hard in the No. 4 and 6 spots, but after the battling, NAU came away with the wins in very close contests. Finally, in the No. 2 spot, Agustin Tamagnone won his match in a very close contest, taking out Lucas Taylor in three sets, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4. Northern Arizona came away with the win in the end, 5-2.

Words From Coach Pucher

After the loss, head coach Sadhaf Pucher observed, "Tough loss today, but I couldn't love my team more than I do right now in this moment. We put ourselves in a position to win today. It came down to three courts and each player was in the third set. The match could have gone either way."

"Credit to NAU for just being better in the big points. To be in the position to win against a team who is in the running to win conference is a huge accomplishment. We will use this close match to get better for this Friday. Four of our six matches in the third set, it doesn't get closer than that."

Coming Up Next

On Friday, April 20 Southern Utah will take on the Sacramento State University in Hurricane at 2 p.m. (MST).

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Northern Arizona vs Southern Utah University

Apr 16, 2018 at St. George, Utah

Northern Arizona 5, Southern Utah University 2

Singles competition

1. Tim Handel (NAU) def. MORALES, Jonathan (SUU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-0

2. Agustin Tamagnone (SUU) def. Lucas Taylor (NAU) 4-6, 7-6, 6-4

3. Thomas Fisher (NAU) def. TORDOFF, Conor (SUU) 6-1, 6-3

4. Ruben Montano (NAU) def. FEIGIN, Guy (SUU) 6-3, 6-7, 6-3

5. GUERRA, Pablo (SUU) def. Sebastian Eguez (NAU) 6-1, 6-1

6. Felix Schumann (NAU) def. ORTEGA, Jose (SUU) 6-7, 7-6, 7-5

Doubles competition

1. TORDOFF, Conor/MORALES, Jonathan (SUU) vs. Tim Handel/Thomas Fisher (NAU) 6-6, unfinished

2. Adi Zilberstein/Lucas Taylor (NAU) def. FEIGIN, Guy/GUERRA, Pablo (SUU) 6-2

3. Ruben Montano/Sebastian Eguez (NAU) def. COPE, Remus/TAMAGNONE, Agustin (SUU) 6-3

Match Notes:

Northern Arizona 10-10, 8-2 BSC

Southern Utah University 14-9, 4-6 BSC

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (5,3,1,4,6,2)