ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—As The University of New Mexico men’s tennis team heads to the final stretch before the Mountain West Tournament, the team needed a statement match to start the final stretch.
Mission accomplished. The Lobos, facing the No. 18 ranked Tulsa Golden Hurricane, picked up a 4-3 upset after Hayden Sabatka won a thriller to clinch the match. UNM actually won the match 4-1, but played the remaining two matches to completion, accounting for the final score.
In doubles play, the No. 29 ranked duo of Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen took on No. 73 Matthew Kirby and Okkie Kellerman at the number one position, winning 6-3.
To clinch the doubles point, Jorge Escutia and Ricky Hernandez-Tong fought back from 5-2 down and a pair of breaks to nip Majed Kilani and Juan Matias Gonzales 7-6. Escutia and Hernandez-Tong were down 5-2 but earned a break to make it 5-3, and then held serve and broke again to make it 5-5. Both teams held serve before UNM won the tiebreak to take the doubles point.
Augustus Ge and Rodolfo Jauregui were competing at the number two spot when their match was left unfinished.
In singles play, Van Leijsen put another point on the board for the Lobos when he beat Gonzales 7-5, 6-3. He competed at the number two position, and within minutes, Escutia defeated Dylan McCloskey 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 3 singles slot, leaving it open for one more teammate to pull off a win to clinch the match.
The next win, however, came from Tulsa. Hernandez-Tong fell to Kilani after three sets. He fell 6-3 in the first, but bounced back to win 6-3 in the second before falling in the third 6-3. However, Sabatka was there to clinch it.
Playing at his customary No. 1 single slot, Sabatka opened with a 6-1 opening set win over Or Ram-Harel. Sabatka and Ram-Harel battled to 5-5 in the second before Rom-Harel broke to take the set, forcing a third. In the third set it was pretty much all Sabatka, who clinched the match on serve, forcing Rom-Harel to a deep-backhand lob, which Sabatka easily put away. That point led to a primal scream and a huge win.
The last two matches left at the number five and six positons played out, but both Lobos fell. Michael Tran fell 6-3, 7-3 and Jauregui fell a tough three sets to Dominic Bechard.
“This was a good team win,” said head coach Bart Scott. “All the guys stepped up in different areas to help us through. Tulsa is a very good team, we have respect for their coaches and program. The focus now shifts to Nevada.”
New Mexico advances to 14-13 in their season and are back at home this Friday as they take on Nevada at 5 p.m. They resume conference play Sunday when they head to California to take on Fresno State.