EL PASO, Texas – The University of New Mexico womens tennis team won a hard-fought dual-match against the Roadrunners of Texas-San Antonio on Sunday morning on the campus of UTEP. The Lobos went 2-1 in doubles play and won three singles matches at the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots to earn a 4-3 win. Maria Ruiz-Fabrega and Rachel Hatley were the only two Lobos to be victorious in both singles and doubles play against UTSA.
Despite threatening winds that broached 30 mph, the Lobos (2-0) were solid in doubles. At the No. 2 spot, Hatley and Ruiz-Fabrega handed Lesaar and Erausquin a 8-3 loss, while Tiffany Robertson and Michelle Heidbrink convincingly defeated Romanenko and Rossikhina at the No. 3 position, 8-2. The Lobos doubles pair of Tjasa Suvak and Maja Kovacek suffered its first loss of the 2003 season at the No.1 position to UTSAs Bouffler and Fuhrig. The duo dropped the match 8-5.
The Lobos were shutdown at the top three singles spots against the Roadrunners. UNMs No. 1 seeded player, freshman Maja Kovacek, was defeated at the hands of UT-San Antonios Chantal Lesaar in two sets, 6-1, 7-6. At the No. 2 position junior sensation Tjasa Suvak battled to three sets, before losing 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 to Svenja Fuhrig. Michelle Heidbrink and Nicole Bouffler may have played the closest two sets of the day. The two fought to a pair of 7-6 sets, both of which went in Boufflers favor.
At the No. 4 spot, Tiffany Robertson took Paula Erausquin to three sets before finalizing the game at 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Fifth ranked Rachel Hatley also played to three sets with opponent Nadezda Rossikhina. The Lobo junior defeated the Roadrunner 7-5 in the first set before Rossikhina came back in the second to win 4-6. The final set was secured by Hatley as she solidly beat her competitor 6-2. Maria Ruiz-Fabrega rounded out the Lobo-Roadrunner battle. The Albuquerque native outplayed UTSAs Barbara Mooney, beating the sophomore 6-4, 6-4 in two sets.
The Lobos second match-up of the day, which was to be played against UTEP at 2 p.m., was cancelled due to high winds that exceeded 50 mph at some points during the afternoon. A makeup date has yet to be set.
UNM will take a week off from competition before returning to action in Boise, Idaho against Washington State and Boise State. The Lobos will take on the Cougars at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15 before returning to the court on the 16th against Boise State at 10 a.m. Both WSU and BSU are currently nationally ranked, with the Cougars at No. 34 and Broncos at No. 54. The two teams also have players who rank among the top-100 collegiate players in the nation. Washington States Lorene Arias and Boise States Renate Stoop currently sit at No. 79 and No. 73 respectively.Y