DENVER, Colo. – The No. 41 University of New Mexico men’s tennis team earned a 4-3 road victory over the No. 46 Denver Pioneers on Friday afternoon at the Lifetime Fitness Centennial. The Lobos are now 18-9 on the season.
“It’s a great team win,” interim head coach Bart Scott said. “Our guys are playing with a lot of confidence at the moment at the right time. It’s what we’ve been building towards since August. It’s always tough to win at Denver and they have a very solid team.”
The Lobos came out strong in doubles play against the Pioneers. Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen got the Lobos started with a 6-4 win over No. 34 nationally ranked doubles pair Henry Craig and Alex Gasson in the No. 1 spot. Sabatka and Van Leijsen are now 11-2 in doubles play as a duo. James Hignett and Augustus Ge clinched the point with their 6-4 win over Diogo Rocha and Yannik James in the No. 2 position. Samir Iftikhar and Mitchell McDaniels were up 5-4 over DU’s Jesse Ruder-Hook and David Fox in the No. 3 spot when the point was claimed.
Singles play was tight, but the Lobos battled and eventually claimed three of the six matches. Van Leijsen gave UNM an early 2-0 lead with his 6-2, 6-3 win over Fox in the No. 4 spot. DU got on board as No. 104 Craig defeated Sabatka 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 1 position. McDaniels replied with an impressive 6-2, 6-4 victory over Gasson in the No. 3 spot putting the score at 3-1. Yannik defeated Hignett in a close 6-3, 7-6 (5) match to put the score at 3-2. However Ge came through with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Wyatt Lovera to clinch the non-conference win for the Lobos.
No. 86 Iftikhar and No. 109 Rocha played out their match in the No. 2 spot where the UNM senior eventually dropped his match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The Lobos close out the regular season tomorrow with a match against Air Force at 2 p.m. MT.
Live scoring: http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm
“We would love to enjoy this one, but we have to move on and get focused for Air Force,” Scott said.
Twitter: @UNMMenTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/UNM.Men.Tennis
COMPLETE RESULTS:
Doubles:
1) Sabatka/Van Leijsen (UNM) def. No. 34 Craig/Gasson (DU), 6-4
2) Hignett/Ge (UNM) def. Rocha/James (DU), 6-4
3) Iftikhar/McDaniels (UNM) & Fox/Ruder-Hook (DU), 5-4 unfinished
Singles:
1) No. 107 Craig (DU) def. Sabatka (UNM), 6-3, 6-4
2) No. 109 Rocha (DU) def. Iftikhar (UNM), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
3) McDaniels (UNM) def. Gasson (DU), 6-2, 6-4
4) Van Leijsen (UNM) def. Fox (DU), 6-2, 6-2
5) James (DU) def. Hignett (UNM), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
6) Ge (UNM) def. Lovera (DU), 7-6 (5), 6-3