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Lobos Eliminated 4-3 by SDSU

Box Score | Season Statisitics

FRESNO, Calif. — Needing one set from either No. 2 singles or No. 6 singles, UNM got neither, and was eliminated for the third straight year by San Diego State, this time in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament, losing a nearly 4-hour match 4-3.  The loss ended UNM’s season at 14-8.
 
The loss also denied UNM its first title match appearance since the 2014 season, when UNM lost in a championship to Boise State.  The Lobos were looking for their first Mountain West Tournament title since the 2009 season.  It was UNM’s first winner-take-all match in the conference tournament since the 2014 semifinals, when UNM beat San Diego State 4-3.
 
UNM had a 3-2 lead, winning at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 singles, and needed just one more set, either at No. 6 singles with Nicolas Prieto or at No. 2 singles, where Dominic West had a one set lead.  Both matches would fatefully hinge on deuce points that didn’t go UNM’s way.
 
In Prieto’s match, each player dominated a set, with Rafael Gonzalez of SDSU winning the first set 6-1, but Prieto hammering back for a 6-0 set.  Prieto was down 3-0 in the third, but just one break.   He served out the fourth game, broke in the fifth and evened everything up in the sixth.
 
It stayed on serve with Gonzalez serving and the eighth game moved to 40-40.  Both players were staying safe, but Prieto mishit his volley long, making it 5-3.  Prieto was able to break back to 5-4, but he faced four match points in the 10th game, and he saved just one.
 
The left the entire match on the shoulders of UNM’s Dominic West and SDSU’s Jan Kirchhoff.  In the earlier meeting between the two during the regular season, West won easily 6-2, 6-0, but that was not the case here as an epic third set awaited.
 
Both players held serve in the opening games, but West was broken in the third, leading to a 3-1 Kirchoff lead.  Serving at 40-40 and in danger in falling behind 4-1 and two breaks, West kept playing to Kirchhoff’s backhand, and Kirchhoff put a slice into the net to save serve, making it 3-2.
 
West won the sixth game easily to make it 3-3, and then once again at 40-40, West hit a perfect cross-court winner to the left of Kirchhoff, holding serve again and making it 4-3.  Kirchhoff held serve at 40-30 with an overhand smash, leading to the pivotal ninth game with West serving.  West quickly found himself down love-40 due to two unforced errors and a double fault, but West came back.
 
First a forehand winner made it 15-40, and then he saved the game with an escaping forehand that forced Kirchhoff into the net for 30-40.  A strong serve by West pushed it to 40-40, but West hit one just long, and that made it 5-4 Kirchoff.
 
In game 10, Kirchoff fough back from 15-40 to have a match point at 40-40.  West rallied to stay alive, but he ran out of position on a forehand reach, and Kirchhoff had an overhand smash for the win, but he was long, sending the match to 5-5 on West’s serve.
 
West then faced three break points in the 11th game.  Down 15-40, West ripped a shot down the line to serve the first break point, and then he ripped a forehand winner to make it 40-40.  Then disaster struck.  West double faulted, his 13th of the match, to make it 6-5 Kirchhoff.
 
West took the first point on a great finish off a drop shot, eventually overhanding one into the corner, but it got even at 15-15 when West’s backhand went into the net.   West then hit one down the line that Kirchhoff couldn’t handle to make it 15-30.  Kirchhoff than got an ace when West didn’t return a ball that he called wide but the far-side chair umpire overruled it, making it 30-30.  West then hit one wide and SDSU had a pair of match points.
 
At 40-30 Kirchhoff hit wide, and that set up the final point.  With both players nearing the net, Kirchhoff hit a drop that West returned.  Kirchhoff’s return was to West’s backhand, and without much reaction time, he returned to the open cross-court, but the ball hit the net cord and staying on West’s side, ending the epic one hour, 11-minute third set.
 
The loss marked the third straight season that the Aztecs have knocked out UNM in the Mountain West Tournament, with the last two years coming in the quarterfinals.
 
In a way, UNM knew it would be in trouble early when the team of Dominic West and Facundo Bermejo, who had won 12 of their last 13 doubles matches, not only lost, but lost in 6-0 fashion, a shocking early result.  That skewed the doubles point to the Aztecs when UNM’s Hernandez Tong and Holis fell 6-3 at No. 1 doubles.
 
It got to 3-2 as Hernandez Tong bounced back from an early 2-0 hole to win 6-3, 6-1 over Sander Andersen at No. 1 singles.  That followed a convincing win by Bermejo, who won 6-1, 6-0 over Arnaud Restifo.  Stepan Holis won at No. 3 singles 6-4, 6-2, making it 3-2.
 
NOTES:  Holis ended up as the team leader with 24 singles wins.