ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After the Lobos were prevented via howling wind from playing in the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium on Friday, The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team finally had the chance Saturday, and they used it to post a 7-0 sweep of the UTEP Miners, extending their undefeated home record to 5-0.
New Mexico sophomore duo Hsiang-Wen Huang and Yue Lin Chen opened the day for the Lobos with a 6-2 win over UTEP’s double team of Kathleen Percegona and Kristen Prelle. UNM’s lone senior Ruth Copas and sophomore Danielle Quevedo were next to close out doubles as they posted a 6-3 win over UTEP.
The Lobos made their way into singles, and Quevedo made it evident that she was carrying the momentum from the match before, as she quickly upended UTEP’s Yvette Van Oijen 6-1, 6-1.
Yue Lin Chen on court six finished her opponent in the exact same fashion, finishing second on the day and defeating Milena Baigorria 6-1, 6-1. The Lobos now led 3-0 and were just one more singles win from a clinch.
UNM sophomore Bronte Murgett was dominant in her match as she faced UTEP’s Kathleen Percegona. Murgett managed to pull ahead 6-2 in the first set. Percegona’s attempts to battle back and keep the match going were dismantled by Murgett, winning the second set 6-3. This match win clinched the New Mexico win as they led 4-0, but the three remaining games on the day were decided to be played out.
Lobo sophomore Natasha Munday was able to defeat Miner Rine Nozaki 6-1 in the first set. The second set was more of a comeback story from Munday as she trailed the majority of the set just before winning the final three games to clinch her win in the second 6-4, giving the Lobos their fifth point on the day.
Huang was next in line to finish out her match, and it was similar in style to Munday’s as she defeated UTEP’s Erandi Martinez 6-1 in the first set. Martinez battled her way back into the second set and forced Huang to win 7-5 to secure another Lobo win, putting the Lobos up 6-0. The back and forth point advantage was in tune to the last match of the day that was taking place on court one.
Copas’ match was the only on the day to be forced into a third set, which was played out as a tiebreaker since the Lobo win was already clinched. In the first set, Copas defeated Prelle 6-4, and flip-flopped in the second set as she was defeated 6-4. In the tiebreaker to 10, Copas led at the beginning, and then fell behind as Prelle attempted to make a comeback. Her efforts gained her a 9-7 lead just before Ruth’s senior stamina came alive and drove her to score four straight points to secure her 11-9 tiebreaker win, which ended the Lobo sweep of the Miners.
The Lobos are now 5-7 on the season as they head to Seattle, Washington where they take on Seattle University on March 13.
Lobos Sweep UTEP Miners, 7-0
