Lobos Lose to Utah 4-2 in Tight Match
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — In a match that saw the top four singles flights all go to a third set, the homestanding Utah Utes took four singles wins to clinch a 4-2 victory of the Lobo men’s tennis team. The Lobos have now dropped five straight and fell to 1-5 overall. Utah is now 7-3 overall.
The match, which took more than three hours, was tight throughout, and it started in doubles. The Utes took the first doubles match, winning at No. 3 doubles as Dan Little and Azat Hankuliyev knocked out Casey Recci and Tim Buttner 6-2 and needed just one more for the first point, but UNM put it away with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. At No. 1, Ricky Hernandez Tong and Stepan Holis were up 4-3 on Randy Cory and Russell Benkiam serving at deuce point. Hernandez Tong twice sent his opponent nearly into the next court with perfect cross-court backhands, and then Holis took advantage of a soft return that came too close, slamming it home for a 5-3 lead.
UNM then served out a 6-3 win, and 16 seconds later Dominic West and Facundo Bermejo clinched the doubles point with an identical 6-3 win.
Up 1-0, the real fun started in singles. The bottom two flights went quickly to Utah. Matthias Gavelin handed Buttner a 6-1, 6-0 loss to make it 1-1, and then at No. 6, Utah’s Hankuliyev defeated Recci 6-4, 6-3.
With Utah up 2-1, it looked like they had control of the match after opening set wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Ricky Hernandez Tong lost his opening set 6-4 to Dan Little while Dominic West lost to David Micevski 6-2. However, both battled back to win their second sets and force a third.
Those were coupled with UNM winning the opening sets at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, and then dropping the second sets. Holis won his opening set 6-1 and then lost by an identical score in the second while Facundo Bermejo won 6-4 and then lost 7-5.
That forced the final four singles matches to third sets. Holis finished first, winning 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 to defeat Micevski and make the match a 2-2 tie, pushing it where the first team to win two of the final three matches would win, and it was Utah that did it.
At No. 1, Hernandez Tong found himself down 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, and each time he served himself back into the match. However down 4-3, he had his serve broken and he trailed 5-3. He twice faced match point, fought them both off and evened his match at 5-5, but Dan Little won the final two games to take the match 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
With Utah up 3-2, they needed just one more, and they got it at No. 2 singles, although Dom West certainly made David Micevski work for it. West fought off four match points, the first two at 5-2 40-30, coming back to take that game. However, he fell behind 40-0, giving Micevski quadruple match point. West got a forehand passing shot to stave off the first one, and then forced Micevski to pass wide on the second.
However, on the fifth match point, Micevski hit a deep return that West sent back long, giving the Utes a 4-2 win. The last match was left unfinished with Bermejo trailing 4-6, 7-5, 5-3.
The Lobos have played their first six matches on the road. The team finally gets to play at home when it hosts Pacific Sunday, February 24 at noon.
Utah 4, New Mexico 2
Doubles (3,1,2)
Hernandez Tong/Stepan Holis (UNM) def. Cory/Benkaim (UTAH), 6-3
West/Bermejo (UNM) def. Micevski/Shainyan (UTAH), 6-3
Little/Hankuliyev (UTAH) def. Recci/Buttner (UNM), 6-2
Singles (5,6,3,1,2)Dan Little (UTAH) def. Ricky Hernandez Tong (UNM), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
David Micevski (UTAH) def. Dominic West (UNM), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
Stepan Holis (UNM) def. Slava Shainyan (UTAH), 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
Russell Benkaim (UTAH) vs. Facundo Bermejo (UNM), 4-6, 7-5, 5-3, unf.
Mathias Gavelin (UTAH) def. Tim Buttner (UNM), 6-1, 6-0
Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH) def. Casey Recci (UNM), 6-4, 6-3