Boise State Shuts Out Lobos in Home Finale
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico’s Senior Day ceremony went well, but the Lobos lost the doubles point and then Boise State scored three singles wins before UNM could get on the board as the Broncos clinched a share of the Mountain West title with a 4-0 win at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
BSU tied with Utah State for the league title, but the Aggies earned the top seed by virtue of their win over BSU earlier in the season. New Mexico, who were knocked out of title contention when the Aggies won at San Diego State earlier in the day, are the No. 3 seed and face No. 6 UNLV in the opening round. UNLV went 8-11 overall and 1-4 in the league. The two teams did not meet in the regular season as the match at UNLV was rained out. The match will take place on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Mountain Time.
UNM could face BSU in the semifinals, and that would give UNM a shot to avenge today’s loss. In doubles, UNM dropped a 6-4 decision at No. 3 but Arda Azkara and Alex Maggs had a come-from-behind 7-5 win, taking the last four games, to even the point at one. It all came down to No. 2 doubles, and six times in regulation, UNM’s Nicolas Recoura and Georgio Samaha were staring at set point, and they fought off all six. The faced set point with BSU serving up 5-3 at deuce, and then BSU had four set and break points as UNM fell behind love-40 while down 5-4, but Samaha and Recoura got all four. Down 6-5, they again had a serve for deuce and the set, but Samaha had a solid return after a serve and Recoura smashed a winner home.
In the tiebreak, UNM evened it up at 3-3, but the Broncos took advantage of a double fault to score four straight, finally converting on a seventh set point, giving BSU a 1-0 lead.
In singles, UNM struggled without Rafael Abdulsalam at No. 5, missing the match with an injury. Alex Maggs slotted up to No. 5 and Avery Tallakson joined the lineup, but both lost in straight sets, along with Arthur Bellegy at No. 2. Arda Azkara was just starting a third set with momentum on his side, and both Aram Noroozian and Samaha were up and close to closing their matches out, meaning while UNM lost 4-0, UNM was in reality that lone doubles point away from being right in the match.