ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The No. 39 University of New Mexico men’s tennis team (20-9, 7-1 MW) beat Air Force 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Mountain West Men’s Championship at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
“It’s an honor to play the United States Air Force Academy” said New Mexico head coach Bart Scott. “I thought for the first seven points or so, our guys didn’t really take it. They were scoreboard watching a little and no one early took over. Once they did, I thought we did a good job of going about our business.”
For the second straight year, the Lobos knocked off the Falcons in the quarterfinals of the conference championships, notching the sweep again in this year’s matchup between the top-seeded Lobos and eighth-seeded Falcons.
This showdown was also a rematch from last weekend, where New Mexico swept Air Force 4-0 in Colorado Springs. UNM now leads the all-time series 39-8.
The Lobos claimed the doubles point to start the match, making it the fifth consecutive match that UNM went into singles play with the 1-0 lead. James Hignett and Augustus Ge posted a dominating 6-1 win over Nico Carpenter and Max Olson in the No. 2 spot while No. 51 nationally ranked doubles pair Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Jeijsen picked up their eighth straight doubles victory taking down Grant Taylor and Lucas Fumagalli 6-3 in the No. 1 spot. Hignett and Ge are now 11-4 as a doubles pair. Sabatka and Van Leijsen, who earned all-MW honors for their success in doubles during the regular season, are now 13-2 on the season as a doubles team.
Samir Iftikhar and Mitchell McDaniels were up 5-1 over Andrew Parks and Dillon Launius in the No. 3 spot when the point was claimed.
UNM continued its success in singles action, posting three straight wins.
Sabatka, who was also named to the all-conference singles team, got the Lobos started with a two-set win over Taylor in the No. 1 spot; 6-4, 6-2. Three-time all-MW singles honoree Iftikhar followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Jack McCullers in the No. 2 singles position.
Van Leijsen, who was named the 2015 MW Freshman of the Year, clinched the Lobos’ victory with his two-set win over Olson in the No. 4 singles spot; 7-6, 6-1.
McDaniels, Hignett, and Ge were all on their way to victories over their Falcon opponents when the match was claimed.
This is the fifth straight year that the Lobos have won their quarterfinals match.
UNM will face fifth-seeded Boise State in the semifinals on Saturday at 12 p.m. MT at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium. The Lobos will look to change the trend of the last few seasons as UNM has fallen to the Broncos in the MW Championship the last three years.
“They are the champions, and if we want to be the champions, you have to beat the champions,” Scott said in reference to Saturday’s match against the Broncos. “You can see the way they played today that they are really playing well.”
UNM defeated Boise State earlier this month in a tight 4-3 regular season battle.
Live scoring: lobos.statbroadcast.com
Live streaming: http://www.themwc.com/page/championship_m-tennis
BOX SCORE
COMPLETE RESULTS:
Doubles:
1) Sabatka/Van Leijsen (UNM) def. Taylor/Fumagalli (AFA), 6-3
2) Hignett/Ge (UNM) def. Carpenter/Olson (AFA), 6-1
3) Iftikhar/McDaniels (UNM) vs. Park/Launius (AFA), 5-1 unfinished
Order of Finish: (2,1)
Singles:
1) Sabatka (UNM) def. Taylor (AFA), 6-4, 6-2
2) Iftikhar (UNM) def. McCullers (AFA), 6-3, 6-4
3) McDaniels (UNM) vs. Fumagalli (AFA), 7-6, 3-1 unfinished
4) Van Leijsen (UNM) def. Olson (AFA), 7-6, 6-1
5) Hignett (UNM) vs. Parks (AFA), 6-2, 4-3 unfinished
6) Ge (UNM) vs. Carpenter (AFA), 6-2, 4-5 unfinished
Order of Finish: (1, 2, 4)