Box Score | 2017-18 Season Statistics
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Don’t look now, but here comes UNM women’s tennis again. This time with a whole new cast of characters.
With just two holdovers from last year, the New Mexico Lobos won thier fourth straight match and fifth in the last six, sweeping away New Mexico State 4-0 in Las Cruces. The hot stretch mirrors what UNM did last year. In 2016-17, Stephanie Wooten-Quijada’s first with the Lobos, the squad started out 1-11 before winning seven of its last nine. This year UNM was 2-5 but has won five of six, and the team now heads into conference play.
It was a whitewash weekend, with the 4-0 shutout matching the 4-0 shutout on Saturday against UTEP. It was that same combination of wins last year that sent UNM into conference play, where the Lobos went 4-1.
On Easter Sunday, UNM really had no issues in handling the Aggies. The doubles point was a two-match sweep. No. 3 doubles team Bronte Murgett and Lauren Rich defeated Helena Colvee and Eli Arnaudova 6-2, and No. 2 doubles team Natasha Munday and Diana Wong defeated Quinty Janssen and Yadira Rubio 6-4. UNM was actually moments away from also winning at No. 1 singles when the doubles point was clinched.
In singles play, it was three freshmen pulling out wins and clinching the match. The first to nail down a win was Danielle Quevedo, who won 6-1, 6-2 over Arnaudova at No. 5. Hsaing-Wen “Albie” Huang then won over Colvee 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6, making it 3-0. UNM clinched the match with a win at No. 4 by Murgett, who had to work for it, winning 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 over Rubio.
The front three singles matches ended there, with Diana Wong and Rebecca Keijzerwward on serve in a third set, and then the other two flights were split with NMSU’s Lindsey Harlas leading in the second set, up one over Ruth Cpoas at No. 2 and UNM’s Yue-Lin “Polly” Chen winning 7-5, 3-3 over Janssen at No. 3
The Lobos, who improved to 7-6, are above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2015-16 season when the team finished 15-7. The Lobos now return home for three matches in three days over the weekend, starting at 5 p.m. on Friday against Colorado State in the conference opener. UNM then takes on Denver in a non-conference match at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, and then on Sunday UNM hosts Wyoming at 10 a.m. The Lobos are 16-3 in the last three seasons in conference play.
NOTES: Rich is now a team-best 14-6 in doubles, and Murgett is 14-7 in doubles, the top two percentages on the team … Murgett improved to 9-3 in the Spring and has won a team-best five in a row.