ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The No. 49 University of New Mexico women’s tennis team used strong singles play to overcome the Utah State Aggies 4-3 on Thursday afternoon at the Linda Estes Tennis Complex. UNM is now 11-7 on the season, 2-0 in Mountain West action.
“Wow,” head coach Erica Jasper said. “That was a great college match tonight. I am so proud of our team.”
The Lobos’ match up against the Aggies could be described as eventful to say the least. From the intense doubles battle to the last singles match on the court, it was a neck-and-neck match and neither team was willing to give up without a fight.
Senior Natasha Smith and Sophomore Emily Olivier gave UNM a slight edge in doubles play with their 6-3 win over McKenzie Davis and Maggie O’Meara in the No. 1 position. However the Aggies evened up the boards with a win in the No. 3 position as Lexi Turley and Nini Guensler defeated Sharon Coone and Rachana Bhat, 6-3. USU eventually claimed the doubles point after Meghan Lyall and Kallie Sperry defeated UNM’s Dominique Dulski and Meredith Hopson in a lengthy tiebreaker, 7-6 (9).
“I was actually very happy about our doubles,” Jasper said. “We had not come out ready to go at all three positions in our last few matches, but today, despite losing the point overall, we came out firing and playing our brand of doubles. We put ourselves in position to win the point, and frankly that’s all we can really ask for.”
The Aggies went into singles play with a 1-0 lead, but the Lobos came ready to rally. UNM quickly regained some confidence on the court and picked up three straight singles wins to put the score at 3-1 Lobos. Dulski was the first off the court with her 6-2, 6-1 win over Lyall in the No. 4 spot; Bhat followed with a 6-4, 6-3 win over O’Meara in the No. 5 spot; Coone posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over Sabrina Demerath in the No. 6 position.
“In singles our bottom half of the line-up was nails,” Jasper said about the Lobos’ strong singles showing. “Dominique (Dulski), Rachana (Bhat), and Sharon (Coone) were disciplined, energized, and took care of business, which is what the team really needed.”
However the remaining three matches did not go quite as smoothly. The Lobos dropped the first set in all three matches, but fought back to force a third set in each remaining match-up. Just when the Lobos were beginning to wonder where their fourth singles win would come from, Hopson came through with an impressive three-set win over Sperry in the No. 3 position, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, to clinch the match for the Lobos.
Smith was in the midst of pulling off a comeback win over Mountain Regional champion, Davis, when she had to retire due to an injury. Olivier played out her match as the score sat at 4-2. The UNM sophomore went on to drop a heartbreaker to Guensler in the No. 2 position; 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (6).
“At the top, we really struggled in our first sets, but I was so proud of how we fought back in the second sets to extend all three matches to the third,” Jasper said. “Meredith (Hopson) really stepped up when we needed her for the clinch. Unfortunately Natasha Smith had to retire with an injury after playing a tremendous match at No. 1. We won’t really know the severity until tomorrow, but our trainer Kelsey Hubbard did a great job treating her and Natasha is one of the toughest competitors I know, so anything is possible.”
The Lobos are back in action on Sunday for another MW match against Boise State. The match will also serve as Senior Day for Smith, so the Lobos are wishing her a speedy recovery.
The match is set to begin at 10 a.m. MT at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
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