Lupo and Lepine victorious in Men's Tennis loss to NAU

GREELEY -- The Northern Colorado men's tennis team fought hard Saturday against Northern Arizona but fell 5-2 to the Lumberjacks at Work Out West.

"It was a tough loss to a solid team," Bears coach Tim Bearman said. "Northern Arizona finished second in the [Big Sky] Conference the past two seasons, so I can handle a 5-2 loss."

Northern Colorado's lone doubles win came in the No. 2 spot from tandem Ryan Lane and Jordan Loughnan, who beat Dominic Bermudez and Robert Martin 8-6.

The Bears' singles wins came at Nos. 1 (Brandon Lupo) and 6 (Andre Lepine) for the Bears.

Lupo fought back after a first-set loss to defeat Robin Pezzutto 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, while Lepine, a senior, did the same thing at No. 6, downing Ben Lantz 2-6, 6-4, 10-6.

"Those were great wins for Lupo and Lepine," Bearman said. "They both showed me a lot today. From the top of the lineup to the bottom, the guys competed for every point. When they do that, the final score is irrelevant."

A tight match at the No. 4 position saw freshman Ben Gendron drop a close outcome to Shaun Waters, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

According to Bearman, effort, attitude, and energy are the defining characteristics of this team, and he hopes this effort will continue into their conference match against Portland State on Sunday.

The teams meet at 9 a.m. at Work Out West.