Lobos Nearly Come Back From the Brink, Drop 4-3 Match to Cal Poly

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The University of New Mexico fell behind Cal Poly 3-0 and nearly came all the way back, but dropped another ridiculously close match, falling 4-3 in San Luis Obispo.

The Lobos fell to 2-6, having lost five straight, the first four of those were to nationally ranked opponents.  All of those losses have been either 4-2 or 4-3.  Cal Poly improved to 7-7 overall and 4-0 at home.

The Lobos dropped the doubles point in much the same fashion as their last outing, falling in two sets.  The Lobos lost 6-4 and 6-3 at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles.

The match went to singles, and the Mustangs took the first two matches, winning at No. 5 singles as Fernando Fonseca defeated Rafael Abdulsalam 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 and at No. 4 singles as Joe Leather defeated Sergio Molina 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.  That gave Cal Poly a 3-0 stranglehold, but UNM had shots in the other four matches, with three in a third set.

The lone match not going three was Dominic West’s win at No. 2 singles.  He took a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) win to get UNM on the board.  Stepan Holis bounced back from dropping his opening set to make it 3-2 as he won 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.  Jake Trondson then tied it with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win, and suddenly everything was tied up.

That put everything at No. 1 singles, where Raul Dobai won his opening set 6-4, but he eventually fell 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, giving Cal Poly the 4-3 win.

The Lobos will be able to erase this one quickly as UNM stays in California to take on Santa Clara.  That match will have live stats and a video stream.