ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The University of New Mexico men’s tennis squad pulled off an exciting 4-1 win over Utah State in the final match to own the 2nd Annual Mountain-Pacific Invitational title.
The Lobos remain undefeated in the tournament after defeating last year’s tournament champions, San Francisco, and Grand Canyon University.
In doubles play, the Lobos started strong by clinching the doubles point. Jorge Escutia and Ricky Hernandez-Tong defeated Andrew Nakajima and Jaime Barajas 6-2. To close the match, Augustus Ge and Rodolfo Jauregui topped Jonas Maier and Jack Swindells 7-5.
The match at the number one position was left unfinished. Hayden Sabatke and Bart Van Leijsen were tied 6-6 with Utah State’s Romai Ugate and Luis Lopez.
In singles play, Sabatka was first put a singles win on the board when he defeated Barajas 6-3, 6-2. Shortly after, Van Leijsen defeated Maier 6-4, 6-4.
Escutia fell to Swindells at the number three position to allow Utah State to get on the board. The Lobos needed one more point to clinch the match and win the final to take the title. Ge did just that.
In his match at the number five position, he topped Serrano 6-1, 7-5. His win clinched the match at four for the Lobos.
The matches at the number four and six position were left unfinished. Hernandez-Tong and Jauregui were still battling.
“It feels good to win any tournament, but we are humbled and honored to win our own tournament,” said head coach Bart Scott. “A tournament we co-host with Pacific. We had really good, positive energy and had to beat some really quality teams. I’m proud of the team and they deserve a ton of credit. We have NAU on Monday night and we are already focused on that one.”
The Lobos advance to 11-10 in the season. The play again Monday at 5 p.m. at home against Northern Arizona University.
Men’s Tennis Takes Mountain-Pacific Title
