In the second Mountain West road match of the weekend, the Lobos of the University of New Mexico men’s tennis team (12-9, MW: 2-2) were defeated by the Rebels of UNLV (13-7, MW: 3-2) by a score of 4-2.
In double’s play, the first flight Lobo pair of Bart Van Leijsen and Jorge Escutia played a strong matchup against UNLV’s Alexandr Cozbinov and Courtney Lock, finishing with a 6-2 win. Unfortunately for the Lobos, the second flight duo of Dominic West and Sean Baklini fell to Ruben Alberts and Jordan Sauer, while the third flight team of Ricky Hernandez-Tong and Stepan Holis were bested by Clayton Alenik and Richard Solberg, both falling 6-4 to put the Rebels up one after doubles.
In single’s play, the Rebels started with another win, as Van Leijsen fell to #91 Cozbinov in the first flight by a score of 6-2, 6-1. This was unfortunately followed by another loss for the Lobos as Holis fell to Solberg 6-2, 6-2, in the fifth flight.
In the third flight, West was able to earn the first win for the Lobos, as he took down Alberts in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. This was followed by yet another win for the Lobos as sixth flight Baklini was able to nab a victory over Sauer in a hard-fought 7-5, 7-6 win.
In the fourth flight, Escutia lost his first set with a 2-6 score, but won in the second 6-1 . Despite the tough battle for the tie-breaking win, Escutia fell to Eric Samuelsson of the Rebels in the last set by a score of 7-6, giving the fourth and final point to UNLV for the 4-2 win.
“Credit goes to UNLV,” Head Coach Ben Dunbar said. “They played well in tough conditions. We need to get home and continue to climb the ladder, improving and getting the best out of ourselves every time we step on the court. We are right on the edge here and we’re continuing to improve. Learning from each lesson is going to be the difference moving forward.”
The Lobos are back in action at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium for a weekend of tennis, starting with Utah State on Friday, April 13 at 5 P.M., followed by a matchup on Sunday, April 15 at noon against Boise State.