ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Lobos Rodolfo Jauregui, Shunji Hirooka, and Bryan Cunningham are all set to compete in a semifinals singles match at the 2014 Balloon Fiesta Invite as they each battled through two rounds of singles competition on Friday.
Hirooka and Cunningham competed in the Silver Singles Draw and both Lobo competitors easily found their way past the first two rounds. Cunningham picked up quick wins over Northern Arizona’s Jackson Lee (6-0, 6-1) and Nicholas Carpenter of Air Force (6-2, 6-3). Hirooka defeated New Mexico State’s Antonio Ramirez (6-1, 6-4) and Air Force’s Dillon Launius (6-4, 6-1) to earn his spot in the semifinals.
Jauregui, competing in the Cherry Singles Draw, defeated AFA’s Grant Taylor in the round of 16 (6-1, 7-6). His quarterfinal victory was a bit more of a battle, but Jauregui eventually pulled ahead with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 win over NMSU’s Liam Goldberg.
All three Lobos will compete in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon.
Senior James Hignett lost his first singles match of the weekend to NMSU’s Patrick Pfister, 6-4, 6-3, so he competed in consolation play for the second match of the day. Hignett was able to turn things around in his consolation match against AFA’s Andrew Parks and tallied a 6-3, 6-0 win. He will compete in the consolation semifinals round of the Cherry Singles Draw on Saturday.
The Lobos went 1-1 in doubles play on Friday. Hirooka and Cunningham faced AFA’s Taylor and Max Olson in the round of 16. After being down 4-1 early in the match, the Lobos rallied their way back to put the score at 7-7, but AFA snuck ahead to claim the 8-7 victory. Hignett and Jauregui defeated NMSU’s Jeremy Harlas and Ramirez with a perfect score of 8-0.
Jauregui and Hignett will compete in the doubles quarterfinals on Saturday.
The Balloon Fiesta Invite will resume on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. MTN.