Lobos Finish Homestand with a Win Over UTSA, 4-1
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico Women’s Tennis team continued the winning trend in their three-day home-stand with a 4-1 win over USTA at the Estes Tennis Center inside the indoor bubbles in Albuquerque.
The Lobos opened the day with a point after doubles which included a 6-0 win from UNM sophomores Bronte Murgett and Natasha Munday, and a 6-1 win from sophomores Yue Lin Chen and Hsiang-Wen Huang. The Lobos, with the advantage, did not finish the third doubles match as they pulled ahead 1-0 over the Roadrunners.
In the three matches from this weekend, the Lobos won all three opening doubles points, providing UNM with a one-point advantage going into singles for three straight days.
The advantage in Sunday’s matchup heading into singles proved to be beneficial as UTSA was quick to answer back with a point of their own. Roadrunner Mariah Pluath quickly took the lead over Huang and finished the match 6-2, 6-4.
With the score now tied at one-apiece, the Lobos did not miss a beat as Chen pulled ahead over Charleen Tiwari and posted a 6-2, 6-4 win, point and advantage to the Lobos. Chen remained undefeated in the three-match home-stand in singles and doubles through the weekend and now improves to a 30-7 combined personal record.
After regaining the lead, the Lobos finished off the day with two more points from Munday and another sophomore Danielle Quevedo. Munday breezed past Diya Menon finishing with a 6-2, 6-3 win, putting the Lobos up 3-1. Quevedo’s match was a hard-fought win as the first set was tied before she pulled ahead with a 7-4 tiebreaker win in the first set. Quevedo then capitalized on the momentum that was in her favor and allowed only two games to Kylee Kato, winning the set 6-2.
UNM finished the day 4-1 and left two matches unfinished. Similarly to the day prior, both sophomore Bronte Murgett and senior Ruth Copas were the two Lobos without results in singles. The two matches were neck-to-neck through their entirety, as Murgett’s match was already in its third set, advantage UNM. Copas was in the midst of a comeback, after falling 4-6 in the first set, and regaining the lead 5-4 in the second, just before the match was suspended due to the Lobo win.
UNM now improves to 3-2 and look to maintain their winning streak as they head to Boulder, Colorado to face CU on Wednesday.