ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — UNM tried to bounce back less than 18 hours after a tough match with Utah, and it didn’t go UNM’s way. The BYU Cougars knocked down the Lobos 4-0 at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts in Provo, Utah, dropping the Lobos to 3-6 overall as BYU jumped to 3-1.
UNM has now gone a perfect 3-0 at home, but 0-6 on the road. UNM has one more road match before returning home, and it’s a tough one, a February 15 match at Texas Tech.
As for Saturday’s match, BYU took the doubles point with a pair of wins. Kate Cusack and Alina Menshykova defeated Ruth Copas and Danielle Quevedo 6-2 at No. 1 doubles and Samantha Smith and Taylah Beckman defeated Bronte Murgett and Natasha Munday 6-2 at No. 3 singles.
With just four courts, only the top four singles matches opened up singles play, but BYU got the three wins it needed. At No. 1 singles, UNM’s Copas lost 6-2, 6-2 to Cusick to make it 2-0. Then, Murgett fell 6-2, 6-4 in a well-played match to Polina Malykh at No. 2 singles. Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang tried to keep UNM alive, but she lost 7-5, 6-3 to end the match at 4-0 with just two other matches going on when it was called.
NOTES: Yue Lin “Polly” Chen was the only Lobo to not have her singles match start. she was playing No. 6 singles.