STOCKTON, Calif. — It was a tough day for the University of New Mexico men’s tennis team. The Lobos (6-7) fell 4-1 to Fresno State and then fell to San Francisco 4-1 on Saturday at the at the Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
There was no doubles play for either matches and began with singles play.
Against the Bulldogs, Jorge Escutia fell to Mantas Bugailiskis of Frenso State at No. 6 by a score of 6-3, 6-2 to begin the match. Bart Van Leijsen was defeated 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 1 by Fresno State’s Xander Veys and Ricky Hernandez-Tong was also defeated by Euan McIntosh at the No. 2 7-5, 6-4 that would give Fresno State the 3-0 lead.
Dominic West managed to grasp a win for the Lobos at the No. 4 against Henrique Osorio 6-4, 6-0 but it wasn’t enough. Youssef Hassan of Fresno State defeated Lawrence Perrin at the No. 5, 7-6, 6-3.
Against the San Francisco Dons, Rodolfo Jauregui was defeated by Ryan Marker 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 3. Perrin fell to Woravin Kumthonkittikul at the No. 5 6-3, 6-2 that gave the Dons a 2-0 lead.
Escutia came back with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Paul Giraud at the No. 6 that would put the Lobos first point on the board.
Hernandez-Tong was soon defeated by Mert Zincirli 6-2, 7-6 at the No. 2, giving the Dons a 3-1 advantage. To conclude the match, Van Leijsen was defeated in a tie-breaker at the No. 1 against Johan Joenhagen 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 that gave the Dons the 4-1 win.
The Lobos will face Grand Canyon today for seventh place in the tournament.
UPDATE: Lobos will not play GCU due to weather conditions and delayed matches. The team will head back to Albuquerque and start preparing for this week’s matches against UCSB on Friday followed UC Irvine on Saturday.