The University of New Mexico men’s tennis team (3-2) kicked off the first of two days of play in Des Moines, Iowa with back-to-back wins, starting with a 5-2 victory over Nebraska Omaha (1-4) and followed by a 4-0 sweep of Michigan State (3-3) on Saturday.
In the first matchup against the Mavericks of Nebraska Omaha, the Lobos went 2-0 in doubles play, starting with a 6-3 win by Bart Van Leijsen and Jorge Escutia against Abdoul Ouattara and Nathan Reekie in the first flight and a 6-4 win by Sean Baklini and Stepan Holis against Matt Dunn and Luke Moorhead in the third flight to earn the doubles point.
In singles play, the Lobos kept the momentum with the first two wins, with Ricky Hernandez-Tong besting Ouattara in the second flight with a score of 6-3, 6-2, and another win by fourth flight Stepan Holis against Dunn, 6-2, 6-3. Unfortunately, this was followed by two losses for the Lobos, with first flight Van Leijsen falling to Razvan Grigorescu 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 and Michael Tran falling to Marko Minic in the sixth flight, 7-5, 7-6.
Fortunately, the third flight single’s Lobos, Escutia, was able to clinch the victory for UNM with a 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 win over Reekie, which was then widened by Baklini, who defeated Alex Woodward in the fifth flight, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, which put the final score 5-2 for the Lobos.
In the second matchup of the day against the Spartans of Michigan State, the Lobos earned the doubles point with another set of back-to-back wins, with Van Leijsen and Escutia winning against Brett Foreman and Jasper Koenen in the first flight, 6-2, and Dominic West and Hernandez-Tong beating Michael Dube and Josh Mukherjee in the second flight, 6-4.
Holis was able to kick off singles play with a win for the Lobos in the fifth flight against Koenen, 6-1, 6-3, and a win by Van Leijsen against Foreman in the first flight, 6-4, 6-2. Finally, the second flight, 6-3, 6-3 win by Hernandez-Tong against Dube solidified the win for the Lobos, finishing 4-0.
“I’m really proud of the guys today,” Head Coach Ben Dunbar said. “They represented their state and our team the right way. They fought until the last match and Sean came through in a big way down the stretch. We have a talented group and I am looking forward to see how they deal with another match tomorrow against Drake.”
The Lobos will take on the Bulldogs of Drake University (3-3) on Sunday at 10 a.m. in Des Moines, Iowa to finish two days of play.
Lobos earn wins against Nebraska Omaha and Michigan State in Des Moines
