LOGAN, Utah – The No. 42 University of New Mexico men’s tennis team picked up its first conference loss of the season on Sunday afternoon, falling to Utah State 4-3 on the road. The Lobos are now 15-9 on the season and 3-1 in Mountain West play.
Going into the match, the Lobos held the No. 1 position in the conference standings and the Aggies followed closely behind at second place. Interim head coach Bart Scott knew this match would be a fight to the end as the two MW opponents battled for first place and unfortunately, USU came out ahead this time around.
“This match, although it stings bad right now, was a great match to be a part of,” interim head coach Bart Scott said. “Credit USU for being a bit better than us today.”
The Aggies took an early lead after claiming a closely-contested doubles point. Marcus Fritz and Dennis Baumgartner defeated Samir Iftikhar and Mitchell McDaniels 6-4 in the No. 3 spot while Bart Van Leijsen and Hayden Sabatka defeated Matt Sweet and Karan Salwan 7-5. The match came down to a tiebreaker between James Hignett and Augustus Ge and USU’s Jaime Barajas and Jack Swindells in the No. 2 spot where the Aggie duo eventually prevailed 7-6 (5).
Singles play was just as close. Hignett and Van Leijsen came out strong and posted wins to put UNM ahead 2-1. Hignett defeated Swindells 6-1, 6-3 while Van Leijsen defeated Barajas 7-5, 6-2. The Aggies took a 3-2 lead as Salwan took down Iftikhar 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 1 position and Sabatka fell to Baumgartner in a close two-set match; 6-3, 7-6 (4).
McDaniels kept the Lobos in the running with his clutch 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Fritz in the No. 3 spot, but freshman Jorge Escutia came up short 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Sebastian Schneider allowing the Aggies to claim the match.
“James (Hignett) and Bart (Van Leijsen) did a great job racing to wins out there for us and the rest of the boys fought tooth and nail,” Scott said. “Mitch (McDaniels) was clutch as well to make it 3-3. We just didn’t execute well today. The guys fought hard to create chances, but in the end we just didn’t seize the moment like we had been doing leading up to this match.”
UNM is back at home next weekend for two big conference matches against UNLV and San Diego State.
“We have to regroup and get ready for UNLV on our home courts,” Scott said. “This is anyone’s race, it will just be a matter of who is willing to take it.”
Twitter: @UNMMenTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/UNM.Men.Tennis