LARAMIE, Wyo. – The No. 54 University of New Mexico women’s tennis team suffered its first conference loss of the season on Friday evening, falling to the Wyoming Cowgirls 4-3 on the road. The Lobos are now 12-8 on the season, 3-1 in Mountain West play.
“Definitely a tough loss today,” head coach Erica Jasper said. “We fought really hard down the stretch in singles and came up short. Wyoming played a really solid match from start to finish and that was the difference.”
In doubles action, Emily Olivier and Natasha Smith teamed up for a 6-2 win over Christa Gecheva and Alma Espinosa in the No. 1 spot, but the Lobos couldn’t hang around in the remaining two matches. Wyoming’s Dorottya Jonas and Silviya Zhelyazkova defeated Rachana Bhat and Sharon Coone 6-3 in the No. 3 position. Jessica Parizher and Magdalena Stencel clinched the point for the Cowgirls with their 6-3 win over Dominique Dulski and Meredith Hopson in the No. 2 spot.
“Our doubles killed us,” Jasper said. “We are at that point in the season when players and doubles team need to make the choice to lay it out here and we just haven’t seen that at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions this season.”
In the Lobos’ last few matches, they have been able to use impressive singles play to rebound, however they came up short this time. Olivier, Dulski, and Bhat all came through with singles victories keeping the Lobos in the match, but Smith, Hopson, and Coone couldn’t pull off a win in their singles matches and Wyoming eventually claimed the victory 4-3. (Full results below)
The Lobos are back in action on Sunday at 10 a.m. MT for another conference road match, this time against Colorado State. Live scoring will be available at:
http://www.csurams.com/library/tennisstats.html
“We’ll regroup and probably have to make some tough decisions to put our best foot forward for our next match,” Jasper added.
Twitter: @UNMWomensTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/UNM.Women.Tennis | Instagram: newmexicowtennis
COMPLETE RESULTS:
Doubles
1. Emily Olivier/Natasha Smith (UNM) def. Christa Gecheva/Alma Espinosa (WY), 6-2
2. Jessica Parizher/Magdalena Stencel (WY) def. Dominique Dulski/Meredith Hopson (UNM), 6-3
3. Dorottya Jonas/Silviya Zhelyazkova (WY) def. Rachana Bhat/Sharon Coone (UNM), 6-3
Singles
1. Magdalena Stencel (WY) def. Natasha Smith (UNM), 6-3, 6-4
2. Emily Oliver (UNM) def. Nastya Tokareva (WY), 7-5, 6-2
3. Dorottya Jonas (WY) def. Meredith Hopson (UNM), 6-1, 6-2
4. Dominique Dulski (UNM) def. Jessica Parizher (WY), 6-1, 0-6, 6-1
5. Rachana Bhat (UNM) def. Christa Gecheva (WY), 7-5, 7-6 (7-2)
6. Silviya Zhelyazkova (WY) def. Sharon Coone (UNM), 7-5, 6-4