Lobos Get Another 4-3 Win
PHOENIX, Ariz. — New Mexico is getting used to this. For the third time this season, UNM was tied 3-3 with one match to go. For the third time this season, UNM won the clincher for a 4-3 win. This time, Hsian-Wen “Albie” Huang picked up a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles to give UNM the win and improve the Lobos to 5-2 overall. UNM now has a week off before traveling north to take on Colorado and Weber State in its final two non-conference matches.
The win was harrowing for UNM as the team lost the doubles point, dropping two of the three doubles matches. The only win came at No. 1 doubles where Natasha Munday and Hsuan Huang picked up a 6-3 win.
Huang picked up a second win on the day, tying the match at 1-1 when she waltz to a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles, and that was quickly followed by Myu Kageyama, who won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 singles.
GCU tied it with a win at No. 1 singles. Yue Lin “Polly” Chen, who missed Sunday’s match with an injury, came back and made a go with it, but after a 7-6 (7-4) tiebreaker loss in game one, she fell 6-0 in the second. With the match tied at 2-2, it was on the final three matches, all in the third set.
Danielle Quevedo, who played No. 1 against NAU for the Lobos on Sunday moved back to No. 2, and lost a 6-0, 5-7, 6-0 match and Grand Canyon was leading again 3-2. That left it to Munday and Albie Huang, and they didn’t disappoint. Both players lost their opening sets, and for Munday, she was looking to bounce back to get a win in her first match of the season that was not at No. 1 singles. Munday won her second set 6-3 to tie her match, and then she repeated it with a 6-3 decider, giving her a second win on the season. More importantly it tied the match at 3-3.
That left everything on No. 6 singles, and Albie Huang was up to the task for UNM. Where Chen clinched wins against New Mexico State and Abilene Christian, this time is was Huang with a 6-3 win in the third set to push UNM to 5-2.
NOTES: UNM guaranteed itself a winning record in non-conference play … the Lobos have been deadly at the bottom of the lineup, going 15-6 this season at Nos. 4, 5, and 6 singles.