SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 45 University of New Mexico men’s tennis team dropped a tight match to the Utah Utes on Friday evening at the Eccles Tennis Center. UU earned the victory after taking the doubles point and three close singles wins.
“It was a great college tennis match once again,” interim head coach Bart Scott said. “The guys competed and fought so hard. It’s too bad any team had to lose that one, all we can do is tip our hat to them and say congratulations.”
UNM’s James Hignett and Augustus Ge posted a 6-2 win over Johan Jonhagen and Santiago Sierra in the No. 2 doubles spot, however UU found success in the No. 1 and No. 3 match ups. Cedric Willems and Matt Cowley defeated Rodolfo Jauregui and Bart Van Leijsen in the No. 1 position while Parker McGuiness and Jamey Swiggart tallied a 6-3 win over Samir Iftikhar and Mitchell McDaniels in the No. 3 doubles match.
Singles play was neck-and-neck throughout, but the Utes gained a slight edge to power past the Lobos. Freddie McGeehan gave UU a 2-0 lead with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Jauregui in the No. 4 spot. McDaniels put the score at 2-1 with a 7-6, 6-4 win over Cowley in the No. 3 position.
UU eventually clinched the match after winning three-set battles in the No. 2 and No. 6 positions. Hayden Sabatka, who sprained his ankle while warming up before the match, stepped up and played in the No. 2 spot for the Lobos where he fell to McGuiness in a lengthy 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 match. Ge dropped a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 match to Jonhagen.
“For Hayden (Sabatka) to sprain his ankle before the match, I’m talking swelling and the whole nine yards, to miss the doubles, tape it up and tell me he can go for singles was unreal,” Scott said. “He played at such a high level too despite his ankle. It shows he’s come a really long way mentally since the fall. As his coach and as an alumni, I’m so proud of that fight and effort.”
Iftikhar and Hignett were both up a break in the third set of their matches when the Utes claimed the win.
The Lobos are now 11-8 on the season. UNM must rebound quickly as they are set to take on BYU tomorrow at 12 p.m. MT in Provo.
“We have a quick turnaround now to be ready for BYU,” Scott added. “We will be ready to fight.”
Live scoring and video for tomorrow’s match against the Cougars will be available at the: BYU men’s tennis schedule page.
A full recap and results will posted on golobos.com at the end of the match. You can also follow along with the action on the UNM men’s tennis social media pages:
Twitter: @UNMMenTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/UNM.Men.Tennis