Albuquerque, N.M. — Another great win at home! The University of New Mexico men’s tennis team defeated Northern Arizona 5-2 on Tuesday at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium, defending their 3-0 home winning streak.
The Lobos (7-9) and the Lumberjacks (5-6) began doubles play with a battle.
Ruben Montano and Tim Handel of Northern Arizona defeated the power duo of Bart Van Leijsen and Dominic West 7-5, at No. 2, grasping the first doubles win for the Lumberjacks. Jorge Escutia and sophomore Michael Tran came in hot with a 7-6 (5) tiebreaker win over Felix Schumann and Thomas Fisher of Northern Arizona at No. 3, leaving the Lobos and the Lumberjacks, 1-1.
The final doubles point came down to Ricky Hernandez-Tong and Rodolfo Jauregui and Northern Arizona’s Lucas Taylor and Sebastia Eguez for the last point. Hernandez-Tong and Juaregui defeated Taylor and Eguez, 7-5 (8), in another thrilling tiebreaker, giving the Lobos the doubles point advantage.
In singles play, West quickly defeated Schumann 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4. It wasn’t long before Tran defeated Fisher 6-3, 7-5, at No. 6., giving the Lobos a 3-0 run over the Lumberjacks. Hernandez-Tong clinched the match for the Lobos against Northern Arizona’s Taylor 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2. He was followed by Escutia at No. 5, with a 6-4, 7-6 (8) victory over Montano, giving the Lobos the 5-0 sweep.
It wasn’t over there. Matches continued that put the Lumberjacks on the board. Van Leijsen was defeated by Handel at No. 1 and Jauregui was defeated by Eguez at No. 3. This gave the Lumberjacks two wins that made the final score 5-2.
“Happy to get the win and move into a little off time having built some confidence,” head coach Ben Dunbar said. “Credit to NAU today. They worked hard and brought it to us. We did a much better job of dealing with adversity today. We are excited to use the next 17 days to get better and have another look at Fresno State!”
The Lobos will be off the next two weeks before opening Mountain West conference play against Fresno State on Friday, Mar. 31 at 4 p.m. here in Albuquerque. Be sure to follow and like the team on Facebook (UNM Men’s Tennis Team) and Twitter (@UNMMenTennis) for updates.