Can’t Spell Windy Without WIN, UNM Beats UWYO 4-3
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On a day that was probably better suited for flying a kite or releasing ceremonial balloons, the New Mexico Lobos nipped Wyoming 4-3 at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium, improving to 9-7 overall and 2-0 in Mountain West play.
The Lobos have now won 11 of their last 12 conference matches, and the win avenged the only defeat in that span, a 4-2 loss at Wyoming last year.
The win was howling and was clearly a factor, one that the Cowgirls struggled with, so much so that at one point in doubles a Cowgirl opted to serve underhanded. The doubles point turned into a key point, and UNM took with a pair of wins. Bronte Murgett and Lauren Rich dropped their opening game and then reeled off six straight to win 6-1 at No. 3 doubles.
At No. 2 doubles, Diana Wong and Natasha Munday lost the opening game, and then reeled off five straight to go up 5-1. However, opponents Magdalena Stencel and Milka Genkova fought back, winning three straight before Wong hit a cross-court winner that Wyoming could do nothing with, giving UNM a 6-4 win. No. 1 singles ended at 4-4, 30-30.
The match went to singles, and the bottom of UNM’s order came through. Wyoming tied it 1-1 with a win at No. 3 singles as Elisa Koonik defeated Murgett 6-4, 6-3. UNM then retook the lead at 2-1 when Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang took a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Ana Tkachenko at No. 5 singles.
Wyoming again tied it at 2-2 when Stencel defeated Wong 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles, and once again UNM jumped back in front when Lauren Rich, who will celebrate a birthday on Monday, defeated Myiah Scott 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6 singles. Rich was a late add into the singles lineup as Ruth Copas, who normally plays No. 2 was rested, moving five of UNM’s players up and putting Rich into the lineup.
Wyoming tied the match back up at 3-3 as Genkova defeated Yue Lin “Polly” Chen 6-3, 6-4, which put everything on the broad shoulders of freshman Danielle Quevedo, and she delivered. Quevedo extended her winning streak to four straight with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Tessa van Der Ploeg, giving UNM the 4-3 win.
UNM heads on the road for its next two matches, at Utah State and Boise State before returning for its home finale on Saturday, April 21.
NOTES: UNM’s bottom five singles players were all freshmen, and the other players was sophomore Diana Wong … Quevedo leads the team with 14 singles wins.