Box Score: Match 1
Box Score: Match 2
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The University of New Mexico men’s tennis squad hosted their first doubleheader of the season today against Air Force Academy and went undefeated in both matches.
The Lobos fell in the first doubles point of the day. Augusts Ge and Michael Tran teamed up to take on Andrew Parks and Isaac Perez at the number three position. The pair fell 6-3.
The No. 39 ranked duo of Hayden Sabtaka and Rodolfo Jaurgeui competed at the number one position and pulled off a win against Lucas Fumagalli and Tadhg Collins. The pair defeated AFA 6-4.
The doubles point came down to the match at the number two position where Ricky Hernandez-Tong and Jorge Escutia took on Jack McCullers and Max Olson. The two teams battled to a full six games. In the tiebreaker, the Lobos held AFA to 10 points, but couldn’t keep the momentum and fell 12-10.
In singles play, Jauregui made quick work at the number six position to defeat Luke Sanderson 6-3, 6-2. He was followed by teammate Escutia who also won a hard fought match 6-4, 6-4. Escutia played at the number two position against AFA’s Fumagalli.
At the number one position, Sabtaka took on McCullers to an exciting tiebreaker for each set. In the first, Hayden pulled ahead early and won the tiebreaker 7-3. In the second, McCullers closely trailed, but Sabatka came out victorious with an 8-6 win.
Hernandez-Tong competed at the number three position to take on Parks. He defeated Parks 6-2 in the first set, but went to a tiebreaker for the second. He ended up pulling ahead to win the tiebreaker, his match and clinch the match win for the Lobos.
The matches at the number four and five positions were still in play when Hernandez-Tong clinched the match. Sean Baklini and Tran took on Perez and Max Olson respectively.
Baklini won his first set 6-4, but fell in the second 6-4. In the third, he was tied 4-4 when he headed into a tiebreaker for the set.
Tran won his first set 6-2. He trailed early in the second set to 5-1, but came back to win three games in a row to bring the score to 5-4. His run wasn’t enough, and he fell 6-4 in the set. In the third set ten-point tiebreaker, Tran fell 10-8.
The Lobos took on Air Force again at 5 p.m. The Lobos faced the same result in doubles play this time around as they did in this morning’s match.
Hernandez-Tong and Escutia teamed up again at the number two position to take on Collins and Fumagalli. They fought hard, but fell 6-4.
At the number one position, Sabtaka and Jauregui fell to McCullers and Olson 6-4.. The match at the number three position was left unfinished. Ge and Tran were leading Parks and Perez when their match was called.
In singles play, Sabatka quickly topped McCullers 6-2, 6-0. He played at the number one position. Next to put a score on the board for the Lobos was Ge, who defeated Perez 6-1, 6-1 at the number four spot.
Esctuia then defeated Fumagalli at the number two position 6-2, 6-4 to take the Lobos to the lead 3-1.
Hernandez-Tong seemed to be in the right place at the right time as he clinched the match for the second time in a row today. He defeated Parks 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the win for the Lobos.
Baklini and Jaurgeui were playing at the number five and six spots when the match was clinched. They were both leading AFA.
“Tough, physical day. I give Air Force a ton of credit,” said head coach Bart Scott. “They gave us all we could handle today. I was proud of the way we responded to losing the doubles point twice today. We were without Bart and our guys stepped up and solved problems out there. As a coach that’s what you are looking for. We are starting to get the ball rolling in the right direction. I’m excited for the upcoming championship portion of our schedule. We have one Mountain West win under our belt and we are hungry for more.”
New Mexico advances to 8-10 in the season. The Lobos look forward to hosting the Mountain-Pacific Invite where they will welcome seven other teams, including defending champions, San Francisco.