SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Rodolfo Jauregui defeated San Francisco’s Thomas Takemoto 7-6, 6-4 on Saturday afternoon to hand the Lobos a 4-2 road victory over the Dons. The University of New Mexico men’s tennis team is now 5-6 on the season.
The Lobos, who lost a close 4-3 match to Cal Poly on Friday evening, rebounded quickly for today’s match and started with high energy in doubles play. UNM tallied the first point of the match after claiming wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions. Mitchell McDaniels teamed up with Sean Baklini for the first time this spring and posted a 6-3 victory over Alex Santiago and Christian Brockstedt in the No. 3 spot. Senior James Hignett and freshman Augustus Ge defeated Vasco Valverde and Takemoto, 6-3, in the No. 2 spot.
Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen were tied 5-5 with No. 31 nationally ranked Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa when their match in the No. 1 position was called.
“We really showed a lot of growth and learned a ton from the loss to Cal Poly,” interim head coach Bart Scott said. “It’s just a shame we had to learn the lesson at the expense of a loss because win or lose that one, we were going to learn something.”
Hignett handed the Lobos their second point of the match as he defeated Brockstedt 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 5 spot. However the Dons replied with wins in the No. 1 and No. 4 spots to tie up the match. Sabatka fell to Saraiva in the No. 1 position, 6-4, 6-4 while Van Leijsen dropped a three-set match to Valverde in the No. 4 spot; 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Freshman Jorge Escuita posted a 6-2, 7-6 win over Johan Samuelsson in the No. 6 spot to once again give the Lobos a slight edge. Jauregui and McDaniels were in the midst of close matches as the score sat at 3-2, but Jauregui eventually pulled ahead to clinch the match.
McDaniels was in a third set with Skajaa when his match was called.
“The guys answered the bell today after yesterday’s disappointing start,” Scott added. “I’m really proud of them for that. However, now we need to make sure we are more solid with the lead. We almost let USF back into that match. Huge credit to them for their fight back as well. We will see both USF and Cal Poly in two weekends for some more great college tennis. In the meantime, the focus now shifts to NAU.”
UNM, who has yet to play a match on their home court this season, will finally return home to host Northern Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. MT at the Linda Estes Tennis Center.
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