Nailbiter Doesn’t Fall UNM’s Way

EL PASO, Texas — In another crazy down-to-the-wire match, UNM was finally on the wrong end of a 4-3 decision.  Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang lost a third-set tiebreaker, and UNM fell to UTSA 4-3 in the final match of a four-match road trip that saw a last-minute opponent switch.

The Lobos were originally going to play UTEP on Wednesday, but that match was postponed due to contract tracing within the UTEP program.  It was then thought that match would move to Friday, but when that didn’t work, UTSA took UTEP’s place, playing in El Paso in a neutral site match.

The Lobos were up 1-0 after winning the doubles point.  Yue Lin “Polly” Chen and Hsuan Huang played No. 1 doubles and picked up the clinching win 6-4 after Myu Kageyama and Satoho Toriumi picked up a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles.

UTSA jumped out to a 2-1 lead with win at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, the later in a close two-set match that ended in an 8-6 tiebreaker.  Kageyama got UNM back even with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 4 singles before UTSA went back ahead 3-2.

Chen, playing No. 1 for the first time in her career, lost a close match to Jasmine Starr 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, putting UNM behind and needing a pair of wins.  Toriumi got one of those needed when she defeated Catalina Cabrique, playing at No. 5 after playing at No. 3 for most of the season, winning 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-2.

The left it to No. 6 singles, and Albie Huang was able to bounce back from a 6-1 loss in the opening set to force a third with a 6-3 win.  That third went to a tiebreaker but UTSA’s Keegan McCain took seven of the eight points to clinch the match for UTSA.

UNM is now off until March 7 and 8 when the team will travel to Arizona to take on Northern Arizona and Grand Canyon.

NOTES: UNM’s 4-2 start is tied for the best start in the past five seasons.