SACRAMENTO -- In one of the closest matches of the season, Sacramento State fell at home to Northern Arizona, 4-3, in a Big Sky Conference contest Friday afternoon on campus.

In a matchup of two of the top teams in the Big Sky Conference, the Lumberjacks won a very important doubles point, and the two teams split the six singles matches.

Northern Arizona, the defending Big Sky regular season champions, improved to 9-5 overall and 2-0 in league play. Sacramento State had its three-match winning streak snapped, and lost at home for the first time (6-1). The Hornets moved their record to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in league play.

In last year's Big Sky standings, NAU and Sacramento State were the top two teams in the league.

Today, the Hornets received singles wins from Mark Keki at No. 1 (6-1, 6-3), Adam Chodur at No. 4 (6-1, 7-6), and Rudolfs Aksenoks at No. 6 (3-6, 7-5, 6-3). The wins for Aksenoks and Chodur were their fourth straight, while Keki won his third straight singles match.

However, Northern Arizona picked up wins at Nos. 2, 3 and 5. That included a three-set loss at No. 5 from Jiri Novak (3-6, 7-5, 6-4). Both Mate Voros (No. 2) and Jan Silva (No. 3) fell in straight sets.

NAU won at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles to earn what turned out to be a very important point.

Sacramento State will play the fifth leg of a season-long six match homestand on Sunday against Seattle U at 12:30 p.m.