The Northern Arizona men's basketball team's postseason will continue next week as the Lumberjacks announced their participation in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) Tournament, which is set to take place in Daytona Beach March 22-26.
The 16-team tournament will air the first round and quarterfinals on FloCollege, while semifinals will air on ESPNU, and the championship airing on ESPN2. The 2025 CBI will be a single-elimination, fully bracketed men's basketball postseason tournament featuring 16 teams from across the country competing for a championship in Florida.聽
The Lumberjacks will head into the tournament with an 18-15 record, finishing 8-10 in the Big Sky Conference.
Last season, Seattle won the tournament after suffering an early-season loss to Northern Arizona in Seattle, 62-60. Seattle's 2024 CBI championship was backed by wins to Delaware State, Evansville, Fairfield and High Point.
The full bracket will be announced by the CBI on Sunday.
SWIM AND DIVE
The team concluded the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships on Wednesday, competing in the 1-meter event. A total of 48 divers participated in the preliminaries, with the top 18 advancing to the finals and the top eight qualifying for the NCAA championships.
"They had a very solid performance," head diving coach Nikki Kelsey said. "I was very proud of how the whole team fought to stay in the competition against a very strong field of divers."
Victoria Knapp, the 2025 WAC champion in the 1-meter event, placed fourth in the preliminaries with a score of 265.40. She went on to finish seventh in the finals with a total score of 515.25, securing her spot at the NCAA meet.
Mackenna Stocker finished 16th in the preliminaries with a score of 239.20 and maintained her position in the finals, scoring 483.35. Margaret Wesche narrowly missed the finals, placing 19th with 232.55. Grace Wesche finished 28th with 224.20, while Catalina Devia placed 35th with 213.40.
The national championships will take place March 26-29 at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, hosted by Washington State University. A total of 270 athletes -- 235 swimmers and 35 divers -- will compete in the championships.
GOLF
Lizzie Neale was named Big Sky Golfer of the Week after securing both an individual and team victory at the Pizza Hut Lady Thunderbird Invitational in St. George, Utah.
Neale opened the tournament with an even-par 72, recording three birdies in the first round. She improved in round two, shooting a 1-under 71 with four birdies. Saving her best for last, the Kiwi fired a 2-under 70 in the final round, sinking five birdies to claim the title by one stroke.
She led the field in par-four scoring at 3.83 (-5) and ranked second in total birdies with 12.
The Lumberjacks finished with a three-round total of 871 strokes (+7), edging out UC Riverside by two strokes.
MEN'S TENNIS
Northern Arizona will host four contests at home this weekend to close out spring break, taking on Weber State on Saturday, Montana on Sunday and Pratt Community College for a doubleheader on Monday.
Northern Arizona is coming off a bounce-back victory at Idaho State that moved the Lumberjacks to 2-0 in Big Sky Conference play.
The Lumberjacks are led by Dani Torres' 7-3 overall singles record, while closely trailed by Jakub Prachar's 8-4 record. Semen Agynskyy has won the last five of his finished matches, while winning a set at Arizona before the match was abandoned. Northern Arizona has gone 37-28 as a team in singles play this season.
On the doubles courts, Northern Arizona boasts an 18-13 overall record led by Torres and Prachar's undefeated 4-0 mark while partnered together. Ivan Perisic and Takumi Katsuda hold a 4-1 doubles record together, while Katsuda and Torres are 2-0.