Lobos Roll Against Abilene Christian 6-1
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sitting with a 2-1 lead over Abilene Christian in UNM’s first home match of the year, things looked sketchy at best with UNM scuffling in the final four singles matches. That scuffling didn’t last. UNM came from behind in three of the final four matches, and won all four to boot, giving the Lobos a solid 6-1 over the Abilene Christian Wildcats.
The win was UNM’s first of the season as the Lobos moved to 1-2 on the year. The match was played at the Estes Tennis Center inside the indoor bubbles.
New Mexico had a 2-1 lead on the strength of a tense doubles point that saw UNM get a quick 6-2 from Bronte Murgett and Natasha Munday but a 6-4 loss at No. 1 doubles as Sarah Adams and Nini Memishishi defeated Ruth Copas and Danielle Quevedo. That put the point on the No. 2 doubles match. Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang and Yue Lin “Polly” Chen went back-and-forth with Allison Stewart and Sylvia Viljoen.
Huang and Chen dropped the opening game, then went up 2-1. Each team held serve twice, putting the match at 4-3 before UNM’s tandem reeled off the final three games for the 6-4 win and the doubles point.
In singles, UNM’s No. 1 player Ruth Copas easily avenged her doubles loss with a ripping 6-2, 6-1 win over Adams. That made it 2-0, but ACU answered back with a win at No. 5 singles as Jordan Henry defeated Munday 7-5, 6-2. That left four matches left, and UNM was in a battle in all of them.
Murgett playing at No. 3 singles won her first set 6-2, but the second got away, dropping that one 6-3, leaving her match even. Huang at No. 2 singles was tied 5-5, as was Chen at No. 6 singles. Murgett was the first to finish, making it 3-1. She came back with a big break at 6-5 to take the opening set 7-5, and then took the second 6-4.
Yue Lin Chen had the clinching win, but she had to work for it. Up 6-5, Ileana Mocciola evened the match up a 6-6, sending it to a tiebreaker. That tiebreaker was as even as even could be, staying tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4. Chen went up 6-4 when Mocciola put a backhand into the net. After Mocciola won a point to make it 6-5, Chen forced her long, giving UNM the tiebreaker 7-5. Chen then won her match with a 6-4 second-set win.
With the match decided, the teams finished out the match. Huang was up 7-5, 5-4 when Chen clinched, and She pushed through in the final game for a 6-4 win. That left just Quevedo, and the fact that she was sitting a game away from a win was astonishing. ACU’s Stewart was just a few points from a straight set win, as she was up 6-3, 3-1 when Quevedo altered course. Returning nearly everything thrown at her, she reeled off nine of the next 10 games, turning what looked like a loss into a 3-6, 6-4, 5-0 lead.
Stewart was able to stave Quevedo off once, but that was it as she won the seventh game for the final point in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win, giving UNM the 6-1 victory.
“I thought it was good and I thought we bounced back after putting ourselves in some tough situations,” said assistant head coach Vicky Maes. “We started off slow in doubles but got that point, and then we kind of did it again in singles, but we showed up and I was proud of how we competed.”
The Lobos will host Cameron University on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. at the Estes Tennis Center in the Indoor Tennis Bubbles. Cameron lost to UTSA on Friday 4-0 in the first match of the day.
NOTES: Yue Lin Chen improved to 13-3 on the season … Murgett and Munday improved to 3-0 in doubles matches in the Spring season, and 4-0 overall … Chen also has a 13-4 doubles record this season and Munday is 12-5 in doubles.