Lobos Win MW Opener 4-1 Over Utah State
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There were no crazy comebacks, no last-second tiebreaker wins. Just a simple 4-1 victory for New Mexico over Utah State in the Mountain West opener for both schools, pushing UNM to 7-2 on the season and 1-0 in the conference.
The Lobos return to McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium for a 1 p.m. senior day match with Boise State as UNM will honor three seniors in Danielle Quevedo, Natasha Munday and Yue Lin “Polly” Chen.
UNM struck first in what amounted to the only drama of the day, taking the doubles point with a 2-1 showing. UNM fell behind when Carolina Millan and Annaliese County topped Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang and Satoho Toriumi 6-4, but UNM’s top doubles team of Munday and Hsuan Huang did it again, winning their fifth consecutive match at No. 1 doubles, winning 6-4.
That moved the doubles point to No. 2 when Mua Kageyama and Chen were in a 5-5 tie, but they picked up the break of serve they needed for a 7-5 win, putting UNM up 1-0.
From there it was relatively easy, considering UNM’s last four wins each had come via a 4-3 score. Hsuan Huang continued her fine play, moving to 6-3 on the year with a third straight singles win, topping Lisa Kung 6-1, 6-1. Albie Huang (no relation) dispatched Country 6-3, 7-5, and UNM was in firm control of the match.
Utah State picked up a point when Naya Tillitt defeated Allison Romero 0-6, 6-3, 6-3, but within seconds, the match was over. Munday picked up a win 7-5, 6-2 over Zara Ryan to close it out. UNM was in control with Chen leading 7-6, 2-1 when the match was halted, and Kageyama was at 4-6, 6-0, 4-1.
Utah State dropped to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in the Mountain West, and the Aggies will face Air Force at McKinnon at 9:30 in a neutral site match. Air Force dropped a 4-0 decision to Boise State on Saturday in the league opener for both schools.
NOTES: UNM’s 7-2 start to the season is the second-best start in the last 15 years, the only one better being an 8-1 start by the 2015 Mountain West Championship team … UNM’s current lineup for doubles is 9-1 on the season.