Lobos Win Fourth Straight, 4-3 Over EWU
CHENEY, Wash. — The reigning Mountain West Player of the Week Bronte Murgett won her fifth straight singles match and finished off another undefeated week, but it was Yue Lin Chen who clinched what turned out to be a 4-3 win, giving the Lobos a fourth straight win, second straight on the road, pushing UNM to .500 on the season.
UNM’s streak started last week with a weekend sweep of Northern Arizona and UTEP, and now UNM has picked up road wins, and the Lobos are playing their best tennis of the season, just in time for conference play, which starts after a weekend off.
For the first time in this four-match winning streak, UNM dropped the doubles point. The only win for UNM in doubles came at No. 3, as Murgett and Natasha Munday won 6-3. That win was the 11th win in 12 games for the doubles team, and it was their third straight.
That sent UNM to singles down 1-0, but it didn’t seem to matter much. Playing on just four courts (that’s all that was available for the indoor courts as the temperature outside was hovering around freezing), UNM tied the match at 1-1 as Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang took a quick 6-2, 6-2 win over Louise Waite.
The Eagles went back up 2-1 when Madeline Lamoreaux defeated Ruth Copas 6-4, 6-2, but that was the final lead for Eastern Washington on the day. Murgett’s fifth straight win, a 6-4, 6-4 victory of Rylee Braeden at No. 2 tied the match up, and then UNM took the lead for good when Natasha Munday won a three-setter, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0. That was just her second match at No. 4 singles, but her first during the winning streak.
Up 3-2, UNM needed just one more win, and it got it with a No. 6 singles win. Yue Lin “Polly” Chen cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Marta Heinen, and that clinched the win. With the match decided, the only one left was Danielle Quevedo and Faye Worrall at No. 5. Quevedo won the opening set 6-2, but dropped the second 7-5. With the match decided, the two played a 10-point pro-set tiebreaker, and Quevedo was on the short end of the 10-3 score, making the final officially 4-3.
UNM now has a week off before opening conference play on the road, starting on Friday, March 29 at Wyoming at 2 p.m. and then continuing Sunday at Colorado State at 11 a.m.