BOULDER, Colo. – The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team put up a perfect 4-0 record in singles competition on the second day of the CU Invite being held at the University of Colorado South Campus Tennis Courts.
The Lobos opened competition in their 8-draw singles brackets on Friday morning. In the Ralphie draw, sophomore Susan Baklini snuck past Elly Fryberger from Arkansas, 7-5, 6-4. Emily Olivier took down ARK’s Nicole Breaux, 6-1, 6-4 in the Silver draw. Rachana Bhat, also competing in the Silver draw, battled through a three-set match with Utah redshirt senior Elena Najera-Salas. Bhat picked up a quick 6-2 win in the first set, but dropped the second set 6-0 to take the match into a third set. After a neck-and-neck set, Bhat eventually came out ahead winning the third set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (6). Freshman Sharon Coone earned her first collegiate singles victory with her 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Ari Cairo Baza of Southern Illinois in the Black draw.
All four Lobos will compete in the semifinals round of their brackets on Saturday morning.
“Overall we did a much better job of competing in our singles matches,” head coach Erica Jasper said about the Lobos’ singles success. “I was very proud of how Sharon stepped up to grind out a 3 set win–and picked up her first win as a Lobo.”
The Lobos finished day two of doubles competition with a 1-2 record. Baklini and Bhat teamed up for UNM’s only doubles victory of the day as they defeated SIU’s Athena Chrysanthou and Ariadna Cairo Baza in a close 8-7 (4) match. Olivier and Coone fell to UU’s Jena Cheng and Elena Najera-Salas, 8-4. Maria Khval and Brittany Yang deafeated Baklini and Coone 8-4 in the Lobos’ last doubles match of the day.
“In doubles, we are not doing a good job playing good basics–that’s on me as a coach,” Jasper said. “We’ll need to find a way to execute a bit better tomorrow and then put the work in on the practice court next week.”
Tournament play will resume on Saturday morning.
For full results and updates throughout the weekend head to golobos.com or head to the UNM Women’s Tennis Facebook Page.