STOCKTON, Calif. – The No. 45 University of New Mexico men’s tennis team had a successful opening day at the 2015 Mountain Pacific Invite tallying back-to-back wins over Pacific and No. 71 Cal Poly on Friday at the Hal Nelson Tennis Courts.
The Lobos are now 8-6 on the season.
“Today was a very good day,” assistant coach Ben Dunbar said. “We started to play good team tennis where the guys pulled together and had great energy. The upperclassmen really led from the front today so all credit to them too. We expect more of the same on Sunday in the final. Go Lobos!”
No. 45 New Mexico vs Pacific
The Lobos started off the day with a 5-1 win over the Pacific Tigers. UNM dropped the doubles point to start the match, but responded with five wins in singles play.
Sophomore Hayden Sabatka defeated Miguel Diaz 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the No. 1 spot; Redshirt senior Mitchell McDaniels claimed a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alex Hamilton in the No. 2 spot; Senior James Hignett defeated Ashwin Sharma 6-2, 6-3 in the No. 4 spot; Freshman Jorge Escutia defeated Alex Giannini 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 5 position; Freshman Augustus Ge tallied a 6-3, 6-4 win over Bernardo Oliveira, 6-3, 6-4.
No. 45 New Mexico vs No. 71 Cal Poly
Shortly after tallying their win over the Tigers, the Lobos had to square off against the Mustangs for the second time this season. UNM dropped a tight 4-3 match to Cal Poly earlier this month however the Lobos came ready to play in today’s rematch and tallied a dominating 4-0 win over the Mustangs.
UNM claimed the doubles point after tallying wins in the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Sabatka and Van Leijsen posted a doubles win over Devin Barber and Garrett Auproux in the No. 1 spot, 6-4. McDaniels and Escutia defeated Lucas Lesoeur and Naveen Beasley 6-2 in the No. 3 spot.
Sabatka, McDaniels, Hignett also posted wins in singles play against Cal Poly. Sabatka defeated Ben Donovan 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 1 position; McDaniels defeated Auproux 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 2 spot; Hignett defeated Beasley 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 4 position.
The Lobos will compete in the championship match on Sunday morning.
A full recap and results will be posted on golobos.com and on the men’s tennis social media pages:
Twitter: @UNMMenTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/UNM.Men.Tennis
Tournament Website:
http://www.pacifictigers.com/sports/m-tennis/2014-15/Tournament