Jan. 19, 2009
Albuquerque, N.M.- The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team opened spring play this afternoon by losing a hard fought battle against No. 26 LSU at the Randy Briggs Indoor Tennis Bubble falling 4-3.
The Lobos came up short in their three doubles matches giving LSU the advantage going into singles play. Duo Ola Abou-Zekry and Maria Sotirchos lost their match to No.17 Megan Falcon and Mykala Hedberg 8-4. No. 54 Mackenzie White and Emma Hayman lost 8-5 to Whitney Wolf and Nicole Kantor. Making her dual match debut was sophomore Ashley Bonner, who along with partner Manumea Durie fell to Hannah Robinson and Staten Spencer 8-4.
In singles play sophomore Emma Hayman got the Lobos first win of the day, tying the score at 1-1. Hayman defeated Whitney Wolf 6-3, 6-4.
“It feels good to get a win like that under my belt. There are a few things I need to work on, and the team in general needs to work on,” said Hayman. “LSU is a good team and I don’t think we are that far behind them. We lost a few but I am very happy with the way we played.”
Senior Ola Abou-Zekry finished second losing to No. 5 Megan Falcon. Abou-Zekry lost 6-1, 6-4. The match, even though not evident by the score, went back and forth between deuce and advantage almost every single point. Abou-Zekry lost a hard fought match. Finishing third was senior Maria Sotirchos losing 6-2, 6-1 to Nicole Kantor. Sophomore Ashley Bonner finished next losing 6-4, 6-3 to Staten Spencer. Freshman Manumea Durie defeated Hannah Robinson as a result of Robinson retiring in the middle of the second set. Mackenzie White finished last notching the third win for the Lobos defeating Mykala Hedberg 2-6, 7-6, 10-7. White came back after losing the first set, winning the second set in a tiebreaker.
“I’m very excited, I am having a hard time gathering my thoughts,” said White. “Both of my parents went to LSU so it feels good to have a win against (LSU). I was sick last year and lost so it was good to get this win.”
With the loss UNM falls to 0-1 on the season and 1-4 against LSU all time.
The Lobos will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 24 against Southern Florida at the Randy Briggs Tennis Bubble in Albuquerque. Play begins at 9 a.m.