RENO, Nevada – The No. 44 University of New Mexico men’s tennis team earned an impressive 4-0 victory over the Nevada Wolf Pack on Sunday afternoon putting the Lobos at 2-0 in Mountain West action.
“It was a really good weekend overall,” interim head coach Bart Scott said. “The guys competed well and now we are definitely hungry for more.”
UNM took a 1-0 lead to start after claiming the doubles point. Samir Iftikhar and Mitchell McDaniels posted an early 6-2 victory over Billy Bumgardner and Robert Margitfalvi in the No. 3 spot, but the remaining two matches were tight throughout. James Hignett and Augustus Ge fell to Andrew Poustie and Fernand Sunago 7-5 in the No. 2 position forcing the point to be decided in the No. 1 spot where Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen battled Robert Allan and Moez Chargui. The UNM duo eventually clinched the point for the Lobos after winning in a tiebreaker 7-6 (2).
The Lobos also found success in singles. Van Leijsen tallied a 6-1, 6-0 win over Sunago putting the score at 2-0 Lobos. Hignett followed with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Allan in the No. 5 spot. The Wolf Pack earned their first point of the day with Ryan Andrada’s 6-3, 6-4 win over McDaniels in the No. 3 position. However Jorge Escuita replied with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Peter O’Donovan to clinch the conference win for the Lobos.
Iftikhar led Chargui 6-3, 4-2 in the No. 1 spot when the match was called. Sabatka was in the midst of a third set with Poustie in the No. 2 position.
UNM is now 14-8 on the season.
The Lobos continue MW action on the road next weekend with matches against Boise State and Utah State.
Follow the UNM men’s tennis social media accounts for updates throughout the Lobos’ conference season:
Twitter: @UNMMenTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/UNM.Men.Tennis