LAS VEGAS, NV—The No. 64 University of New Mexico men’s tennis team faced conference opponent San Diego State today in a rescheduled match and took it to the wire, but fell 4-3.
The Lobos started off strong clinching the doubles point, which took all three doubles matches to decide. The duo of Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen defeated Santiago Cevallos and Milen Ianklev 6-3 at the number one spot.
SDSU responded with a 6-3 win at the number three spot, leaving the doubles point down to Jorge Escutia and Ricky Hernandez-Tong. The pair battled Freddy Gelbrich and Sander Gjoels-Babic to a tiebreaker where the Lobos pulled ahead and clinched the point.
After Sabatka fell at the number two position in two straight sets, Van Leijsen answered with a 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 win over Gelbrich at the number one position to make it 2-1 New Mexico.
Hernandez-Tong also took his opponent to three sets with a 7-6 win in the first set, but a 6-3 loss in the second. In the third, he topped Ianaklev 6-3 giving UNM a 3-1 lead.
At the number four and six positions, the Lobos played tough but fell to SDSU making the score three all. In the final match at the number five spot, Rodolfo Jauregui battled Marko Gjoels-Babic to three sets, ultimately falling in a third set tiebreaker.
The Lobos dropped to 15-15 in the season and 2-4 in conference play. They will remain in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Tournament. Their seeding in the tournament will be released later tonight.
Lobos Drop to SDSU in Final Conference Match
