ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico finally saw an end to its dream season, losing to No. 22 LSU 4-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, hosted by Texas Tech in Lubbock and the McLeod Tennis Center. The match was a battle to the end, and it certainly took a while.
New Mexico, the Mountain West Tournament champions that was making its first tournament appearance since the 2006 season, dropped the doubles point to open the match. UNM actually had a 1-0 lead in doubles after Emily Olivier and Sharon Coone won their pro-set 8-6, but LSU won courts 1 and 3 within seconds of each other to take a 1-0 lead.
UNM then jumped out to leads all over the place in singles. Dominique Dulski, Sharon Coone and Rachana Bhat all opened singles with 6-1 opening sets, which countered Meredith Hopson’s match on court three. Hopson, clearly not herself over the last few weeks, lost quickly 6-0, 6-1 to give LSU a 2-0 lead.
Natasha Smith dropped her opening set to No. 68 Skylar Kuykendall 6-3, but Emily Olivier, facing one of the best in the nation in No. 29 Joana Vale Costa, took her opening set 7-5 in a tiebreaker after trailing 4-2. That win gave UNM the lead on four singles courts and had the Lobo fans in attendance thinking about a major upset.
It was not meant to be.
Skylar Holloway rebounded against Bhat to take the second set 6-0, and after sitting at 2-2 in the third, Bhat was broken twice and Holloway took the third 6-2, making it 3-0. UNM however wouldn’t be done in so quickly. Somehow Smith, bad leg an all (she has been in a walking boot for weeks) was able to steal away the second set in her match 6-4, and when Dulski and Coone dropped their second sets, it meant UNM was down 3-0 but every match was going to a third set.
However, LSU still had Vale Costa and Kuykendall on court, and they own 59 wins combined for a reason. While Coone and Dulski were battling to get UNM on the board, Olivier was trying to keep UNM going along with Smith. Olivier ended up on the short end of a 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-2 score, and UNM’s season was over just like that.
“Anytime you lose in the NCAA Tournament it means the end of your season and it’s a little bit heartbreaking,” said head coach Erica Perkins Jasper. “But I’m exceptionally proud of how we played.”
“We always talk about putting ourselves in a position to win, and I thought in singles we did that, jumping out in front on five of the six courts, but credit to LSU. They played a little bit better down the stretch and they have a little more experience,” said Jasper.
The loss dropped the Lobos to 16-10 on the season, but the squad loses just one senior in Smith and returns five sophomores and a freshman from the lineup. Among those are Dulski, who won seven of her last eight and Coone, who won six of her final seven, along with Olivier who played No. 1 singles. Dulski’s 16 wins led the team, while Bhat was second with 15.
NOTES: The loss ended UNM’s four-match winning streak … overall it was New Mexico’s ninth appearance in the NCAAs … LSU leads the all-time series 6-1.