April 23, 2009
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It was a great day of tennis as the No. 5 seed University of New Mexico rallied for a 4-3 victory over fourth-seeded BYU to advance to the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Women’s Tennis Championship this afternoon at the Jerry Cline Tennis Center. New Mexico (10-13) faced elimination, trailing 3-1, but won at No. 3, No. 1 and No. 6 singles. BYU fell to 12-10 on the season.
New Mexico’s Maria Sotirchos clinched the victory for the Lobos with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 win over BYU’s Romina Nedakovich. Nedakovich had cut the lead to 4-3 in the third set before Sotichos captured the final two points.
The pivotal match came at No. 3 singles as UNM’s Emma Hayman, facing elimination, rallied for a 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 win over Chie Hayasaka. The match featured scoring runs by both women with Hayman winning the first seven points and Hayasaka battling back to take nine of the next 13. Hayman was down 4-1 in the third set.
“In the third set I was down 4-1 and I knew if I didn’t step it up we would lose,” Emma Hayman said. “I really wanted to do it for the team and for Kathy (Kolankiewicz) since this is her last year.”
Down 5-4 in the final set, Hayman won six of the final seven points to keep the Lobos’ alive.
“I gave it my all and had the adrenaline and was just really hyped up,” Hayman said.
Ola Abou-Zekry lived up to her Player of the Year status as she also won an elimination match, downing the Cougars’ McCall Jones 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 at the No. 1 singles position.
Helping the Lobos in their in win was senior Mackenzie White. White defeated Kristina Doerr 6-3, 6-4.
Head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz clinched her 24th consecutive win in the quarterfinals of conference post season tournaments.
“Today was a team effort,” Kolankiewicz said. “I am very proud of the win today.”
BYU won the doubles point as the team of Jones and Kristina Doerr defeated Abou-Zekry and Hayman, 8-5, at the No. 1 doubles position and the Cougars’ Nedakovic and Liza Ezhova downed Sotirchos and Victoria Tessmar at No. 3.
The Cougars staked a 3-1 lead after wins by Megan Price (6-2, 6-2) at No. 4 and Ezhova (6-2, 6-3) at No. 5 singles wrapped around a New Mexico victory by White (6-3, 6-4) at the No. 2 position.
New Mexico will face top-seeded UNLV tomorrow at 2 p.m.