Women's Tennis To Take Part at Wildcat Invite
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two weeks ago, The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team headed to Boulder for the CU Invitational with six rookies. Two singles titles, 15 wins and 12 doubles wins later, the squad was feeling ready for anything. This week, anything has arrived.
The team, which now features seven rookies, will head into a very difficult challenge, taking part in the Wildcat Invitational, hosted by the University of Arizona. Joining UNM and Arizona in the field is another Pac-12 team in Washington State, along with Marquette and Arizona Christian. The tournament will take place from Friday through Sunday. The Wildcat Invitational will take place at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center, which is located just east of Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium on 2nd street and Campbell Ave. Admission is free of charge.
The invitational consists of three draws of singles, and a non-tournament doubles draw in which each doubles pairing will get three matches.
The top singles draw, the Red Flight, features three Lobos in the field. The top half of the draw has both Danielle Quevedo (3-0) and Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang (1-2), while the bottom half of the draw has UNM’s lone sophomore Diana Wong (2-1). Quevedo, who went 3-0 to win her draw at the CU Invitational, will open with Maggie Cohen of host Arizona, while Huang will face off with Michaela Bayerlova of Washington State. Wong, who has gone 14-1 in her last 15 dating back to last year (losing only to her teammate Ruth Copas in the draw finals at CU) will also face a Cougar in Tiffany Mylonas.
In the No. 2 singles draw, labeled the White Flight, UNM will have two competitors in freshmen Lauren Rich (2-1) and Bronte Murgett (1-2), both in opposite halves. Rich will battle Barbora Michalkova of Washington State while Murgett faces a fourth Washington State Cougar in Melisa Ates.
The final singles draw, the Blue Flight, has three Lobos in the field. Yue Lin “Polly” Chen (1-1) is the only Lobo in the top half of the draw, and she will go up against Elena Schneider of host Arizona. The bottom of the draw sees Natasha Munday (2-1) and Jaci Fulgenzi (0-0), who is from Las Vegas, New Mexico and is making her Lobo debut. Munday drew a match with Mikayla Morgan of Arizona Christian, while Fulgenzi will take on Taylor Tamblyn of Arizona.
In doubles, UNM will go with pairings of Wong/Quevedo (0-1) and Huang/Munday (1-0) in the Red Flight and Murgett/Rich (0-0) and Chen/Fulgenzi (0-0) in the Blue Flight. Each team will get three matches. Munday and Huang are 4-1 in doubles this season to lead the team, with Murgett, Quevedo and Ruch each going 3-2.
Ruth Copas, who went 4-1 in doubles in Colorado and also took home a flight championship, is sitting out the Wildcat Invitational. Copas, who played for Team Ireland in the 2017 Fed Cup, is the only upperclassman on the team, and owns the most career wins among active players with 32 singles wins.