SAN DIEGO, Calif. — In an ending equally parts painful and brutal, The University of New Mexico was eliminated from the Mountain West Tournament 4-2 by No. 5 seed Wyoming in the quarterfinals of the event, ending UNM’s season.
The Lobos finished the year at 12-9, and will take into the offseason a Mountain Division title, but that is of little consequence. Wyoming advanced to the semifinals and will face top-seeded UNLV, which won 4-0 over San Jose State.
The Lobos and Wyoming were tied 2-2, with three matches in a third set, setting up a drama filled ending to the opening quarterfinal. And then in a blink of an eye, it was over.
Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang had a 5-1 second set lead, looking like a lock to force a third set, but she dropped four straight games to see her all even with Maria Oreshinka. Both then held serve, and the match went to a tiebreaker, where Huang obliterated Oreshinka 7-0, setting up a third set. However, as that tiebreaker was going on, Bronte Murgett and Elisa Koonik were played an odd third set of their own.
Neither player could hold serve, and each would break the other through each of the first nine games. It was near the end of that ninth game when disaster struck, and of all things, it was a stationary object that did the striking.
After tying her No. 5 singles match, Natasha Munday and Ana Fernandez were in a third set with Fernandez leading 2-0, when Munday went back on a ball and crashed into the fence, hitting the metal support pole. That led to an injury delay, and Munday pressed on, but that didn’t last long. Munday was able to play just a couple more points before she needed to be pulled from the match due to injury, gifting a 3-2 lead to Wyoming.
Within seconds of that, Koonik held her serve at 40-40, making her second match point count, and suddenly, just like that, it was over.
UNM had a 1-0 lead after doubles, as Ruth Copas and Yue Lin Chen won 6-4 at No. 3 and Murgett and Munday won 7-5 at No. 2, giving UNM the doubles point it didn’t get in the first match-up with Wyoming. The match was tied at 2-2 as Copas also won her match at No. 1 singles 7-5, 6-2 over Tessa van Der Ploog, but UNM suffered losses at No. 4 (Danielle Quevedo) and No. 6 (Yue Lin Chen). The loss by Chen was an opportunity missed, as she held leads of 4-0 in the opening set and 3-0 in the second but lost 6-4, 6-3.
That set up the fateful ending for UNM.
NOTES: Murgett and Munday finished the season 16-1 as a doubles team.
Season Ends in Tough Fashion 4-2
