ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The University of New Mexico men’s tennis team faced Northern Arizona University tonight at home and swept the Lumberjacks in a 7-0 victory. The win pushed the Lobos over .500 for the first time this season at 12-10, and it was UNM’s ninth consecutive victory.
The Lobos started off well when they clinched the doubles point. At the number two position, Bart Van Leijsen and Michael Tran took on Lucas Taylor and Adi Zilberstein and won 6-4. Rodolfo Jauregui and Augustus Ge teamed up at the number one position to take on Tim Handel and Ruben Montano. They clinched the doubles point when they won 6-4.
Jorge Escutia and Ricky Hernandez-Tong played at the number three position against Felix Schumann and Jackson Lee. Their match was left unfinished, but they lead 6-5.
To start off singles play, Van Leijsen dominated Tim Handel in the first singles position, winning 6-3, 6-4 to put the Lobos up 2-0 over NAU.
At the number five position, Jauregui defeated Zilberstein 6-2, 6-2. Shortly after, Ge topped Ruben Montano 6-3, 6-2 and clinched the match win for New Mexico. He competed at the number four position.
At the number three position, Hernandez-Tong was trailing 5-1 in the first set before he made a huge comeback to tie the set, taking it to a tiebreaker where he defeated Schumann 7-4. In the second set, he continued his strong play and won 6-1, giving him 11 of the final 13 sets in the match.
Baklini was next to defeat NAU when he topped Thomas Fisher at the number six position. He won the first set tiebreaker, then 6-2 in the second set.
Escutia battled Taylor at the number two position. He won the first set 6-4, but dropped 6-4 in the second. Since the match had already been clinched, the two went into a third set, ten-point tiebreaker. They battled point for point, but Escutia pulled ahead and won 12-10.
Head coach Bart Scott noted that the team will take some much needed time off before they get right back into it for their play against UNLV.
Men’s Tennis Shuts Out Northern Arizona
