ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s tennis team faced BYU this evening at home and pulled off an exciting 4-3 upset over the No. 44 ranked team.
The Lobos started off strong by clinching the doubles point. The No. 16 doubles duo of Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen made quick work of their opponents Jeremy Bourgeois and Aidan Carrazedo. They defeated them 6-3 while playing at the number one position.
Jorge Escutia and Ricky Hernandez-Tong took on BYU’s Keaton John Pearce and Jacob Sullivan at the number three position, but fell 6-3.
The doubles point came down to the match at the number two position. Rodolfo Jauregui and Augustus Ge battled back and forth with Keaton Cullimore and Andrey Goryachkov. The Lobos were trailing by one game for most of the match, but caught some momentum and came back to win an exciting 7-5 match.
In singles play, Sabatka took on Shane Monroe at the number one position. Although he played tough, he fell 6-2, 6-3.
Next to finish was Hernandez-Tong who put another point on the board for New Mexico. He topped Sullivan 6-3, 6-4 in a hard fought match.
Sean Baklini and Van Leijsen both fell to their opponents. Baklini fell at the number six position 7-6, 6-0 and Van Leijsen dropped at the number two position 6-4, 7-5.
The Lobos trailed 3-2 with two matches left remaining. Escutia was battling at the number three position and Ge at the number five. He won the first set 7-5. In the second, he went game for game with BYU before he pulled ahead and won the second 6-4. He tied the game for the Lobos.
Escutia won his first set 7-5 against Goryachkov. In the second, he trailed early and couldn’t quite come back. He fell 6-4. In the third set, Escutia pulled away early to a 5-1 lead, but it was short lived. BYU made a game comeback to 5-3. With his team and his fans cheering him on, Escutia battled to defeat BYU 6-4 in the last set, cinching his match and the 4-3 match win for the Lobos.
“Great college tennis match tonight, it usually is when New Mexico and BYU get together,” said head coach Bart Scott. “BYU fought to the end and I give them a lot of credit. The doubles point proved to be huge and Augie and Rodolfo were clutch! Then Jorge clinches another match for us. It was a fun match and a total team effort.”
The Lobos take on Air Force tomorrow at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. in their first doubleheader of the season.
Lobos Pull Off Another Upset at Home
