ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The No. 63 University of New Mexico men’s tennis squad opened up the Mountain-Pacific Invite with a match against last year’s tournament champions, San Francisco, and came out victorious.
In doubles play, Augustus Ge and Rodolfo Jauregui teamed up at the number two position to take on Woravin Kumthonkitti and Thomas Takemoto. The two worked really well together and made quick work of their opponent, defeating them 6-2.
The match at the number one position was a battle that went into a tiebreaker. Bart Van Leijsen and Hayden Sabatka took on Nils Skajaa and Vasco Valverde to six games. The two teams went point for point in the tiebreaker until the Lobos pulled ahead to win the tiebreaker 7-4.
The match at the number three position was left unfinished. Lobos Ricky Hernandez-Tong and Jorge Escutia were up 6-5 before their teammates clinched the doubles point.
In singles play, Van Leijsen pulled off the first singles win of the day when he defeated Ryan Marker 6-4, 6-3 at the number two position.
At the number five position, Ge defeated Tynan Maguire 6-3, 6-2. To clinch the 4-0 win for the Lobos Hernandez-Tong topped Takemoto 6-3, 6-4. He competed at the number four position.
The matches at the number one, three and six spot were left unfinished when the match was clinched. Sabatka was leading at the number one position 6-3, 4-6, 2-0 and Baklini was leading 6-4, 3-2 at the sixth spot. Escutia was battling back and forth with Valverde at the number three position and after falling 6-4 in the first set, he was leading 4-1 in the second.
The Lobos then headed into the semifinal match against Grand Canyon in the evening. Grand Canyon defeated #4 seeded Santa Clara 4-3 to get to the semifinal match.
UNM and GCU started with singles play and would only play for the doubles point if the singles matches were left in a 3-3 tie, but the Lobos didn’t allow that to happen. They topped GCU 4-0.
Sabtaka took on Mitch Maroscher a close 7-5 in the first set, then dominated GCU 6-0 in the second to put New Mexico on the board first. He competed at the number one position.
At the number three position, Escutia then defeated Alexander Roggenkamp 6-3, 6-1. Shortly after, Van Leijsen topped his opponent at the number two position 6-2, 6-4 to quickly take the Lobos to a 3-0 lead.
New Mexico needed one more win to clinch the match, and Ge did just that. He took on GCU’s Meidy Chazeau and defeated him 6-4, 6-3 at the number five position to clinch the win.
Hernandez-Tong and Baklini’s matches at the number four and six position were left unfinished.
“It was a great day of tennis today,” said head coach Bart Scott. “The weather was beautiful and our guys played pretty well too. Both matches were tough and physical and we are happy to come through. We are looking forward to playing Utah State in the finals. They are well coached and we know they will be ready.”
The two wins today earned the Lobos in a spot in the final match for the Mountain-Pacific Invitational for the second year in a row. Like Scott said, they take on Utah State tomorrow for the title. For a look at the updated draw for the invite, click here.