Lobos Race Into Semifinals After Shutting out AFA
Box Score | Season Statistics | Mountain West Tournament Central
FRESNO, Calif. — The University of New Mexico blitzed past the No. 8 seeded Air Force Falcons, sweeping doubles and then winning three quick singles matches for a 4-0 quarterfinal victory in the Mountain West Tournament, being hosted by Fresno State.
The Lobos, who moved to 14-7 on the season, advanced to the semifinals, where the team will face either UNLV or San Diego State. Air Force’s season ended at 12-13 following back-to-back losses to UNM.
The Lobos, who faced off with Air Force just five days ago and squeaked out a 4-3 victory, had no such drama unfold on a resplendent morning in Fresno. UNM got a quick win at No. 2 doubles as Dominic West and Fecundo Bermejo bounced back from their first loss in weeks to hammer Air Force’s Jordan Bautista and Paul Hendrix 6-1. West and Bermejo dominated throughout, winning 26 of the 34 points in the match, including 16 of 20 service points.
That meant UNM needed just one more doubles win, and they got it when Ricky Hernandez Tong and Stepan Holis got a break of serve in the 12th game, using the last of four match points when Holis was able to put a volley at the net away.
PAINT IT CHERRY AND SILVER!!!
UNM races into the semifinals with singles wins by Holis, West and Bermejo as we win 4-0 over Air Force, and we improve to 14-7 overall. #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/pCFLk2ltrX
— UNM Men’s Tennis (@UNMLoboMTennis) April 25, 2019
That doubles point was UNM’s first in four matches, as the Lobos lost all three last weekend. Up 1-0, UNM showed zero signs of letting up. Stepan Holis picked up his 23rd win of the season with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Paul Hendrix. From there, the race was on to see which two of the three matches for UNM would finish in time, as UNM had leads at No. 1 with Hernandez Tong, No. 3 with West and No. 5 with Bermejo.
It was West who finished first, making it 3-0 when he took a 6-2, 6-2 win. That win moved him back into a tie for the team lead in singles wins with 23, tying with Holis. It was Bermejo who earned the clinching victory with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Mack Galvin, and that ended the match with Hernandez Tong up 6-3, 5-4.
The other unfinished matches were at No. 4 singles, where Tim Buttner split the opening two sets with Tadhg Collins, and at No. 6, where Nicolas Prieto dropped his first set but was 5-5 in the second.
NOTES: UNM is 32-26 all-time against San Diego State and 21-17 all-time against UNLV … this was the first conference tournament victory for head coach Ben Dunbar, and it’s UNM’s first trip to the semifinals since 2015 … the win ended a four-match conference tournament losing streak.