ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team took on Southern Illinois at home today for their second match of the season, sweeping their opponent.
The Lobos started with momentum after they clinched the doubles point. Emily Olivier and Andrea Leblanc played against SIU’s Xiwei Cai and Ana Sofia Cordero in the number one position. The duo shut out SIU, ending the match 6-0.
Second to finish was Ludivine Burguiere and Sharon Coone who fell short to SIU’s Meagan Monaghan and Vitoria Beirao 2-6. The matches were split and it came down the duo playing in the number three position, Dominique Dulski and Rachana Bhat.
The pair battled Athena Chrysanthou and Yana Golovkina back and forth, game for game. The Lobos ended up finished strong and defeated SIU 6-4, clinching the doubles point for New Mexico.
In singles play, the number one, two and three positions came out tough and each defeated their opponents in two sets.
Dominique Dulski finished her singles match first for the second home match in a row. She defeated Meagan Monaghan 6-2, 6-2 competing in the number three position.
Emily Olivier finished a close second after she beat SIU’s Xiwei Cai 6-3, 6-1. Olivier played at the number one position.
To round out the first three singles point and clinching the match point, Leblanc defeated Chrysanthou 6-3, 6-3.
Even though the Lobos clinched the win over Southern Illinois, the rest of the matches were played out.
Rachana Bhat took on Katie Fries and battled. She won the first set 7-6 after coming from behind 1-4 early in the match and winning the tiebreaker 7-1. In the second set, she won was the fourth to finish when she won 6-3. Bhat played at the number six positon.
Finishing closely after her teammate, Ruth Copas makes her first appearance against SIU in singles defeating Cordero 6-3, 6-4 at the number four position.
The last pair left standing on the courts was Sharon Coone and SIU’s Golovkina. The two battled back and forth in both sets, but Coone won 6-3, 6-4. With that win, the Lobos swept Southern Illinois 7-0.
“Overall today was a solid match,” said head coach Kelcy McKenna. “SIU did a great job of competing in the doubles, and we need to work on maintaining our energy from start to finish. Tomorrow will be another great opportunity to improve against a tough NAU team.”
The Lobos play Northern Arizona tomorrow at 3 p.m. at the Linda Estes Tennis center.
Lobos Sweep Southern Illinois 7-0
