Lobos Nipped in Boise 4-2
BOISE, Idaho — The New Mexico Lobos played a tight one that could have really gone either way, but the Boise State Broncos won two of three three-set singles matches, giving the Broncos a 4-2 win over New Mexico. The Lobos fell to 9-8 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West.
The Lobos head to Utah State on Sunday for their final road match of the regular season at 10 a.m. The match was the second straight without Ruth Copas, UNM’s only upperclassman and the regular No. 2 singles player. Copas is playing in the Fed Cup for Team Ireland.
UNM fell behind Boise State (12-7) by dropping two doubles matches, both 6-4, losing at No. 1 and No. 3. That sent the match to singles down 1-0, and of the six singles matches, just two were decided in straight sets. UNM made it 1-1 when Bronte Murgett won at No. 3 singles 6-4, 6-2 over Lilian Poling, but BSU went right back on top when Anja Dokic defeated Yue Lin “Polly” Chen 6-4, 7-5.
Everything else went three sets in the tightly contested match. The next point went UNM’s way when reigning Mountain West Player of the Week Danielle Quevedo won over Wiktoria Nosek 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. BSU took the next two singles finishes to win the match. The Broncos went up 3-2 when Vanessa Timm defeated Lauren Rich 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 and then BSU won the match when Wilhelmina Palmer defeated Diana Wong at No. 1 with Palmer winning 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3. Wong was leading 3-2 in the final set but Palmer took the final four games.
While that match was going on, Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang was playing and leading at No. 6 singles, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 2-1.
The loss is just the second Mountain West loss in the last three years for UNM, with the squad now 11-2 in the last three years against the Mountain West.