Lobos Drop First MW Match 4-2 to Boise State
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It looked for a bit like the New Mexico Lobos were going to pull out another patented come-from-behind one-point win, but Boise State snuffed out UNM’s comeback bid with a three-set win at No. 2 singles and the Broncos handed UNM its first conference loss as UNM fell 4-2 on Senior Day at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
In a battle of potential title contenders, Boise State improved to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West while UNM fell to 7-3 and 1-1.
UNM held a ceremony prior to the start of the match for three seniors in Yue Lin “Polly” Chen, Natasha Munday and Danielle Quevedo, and the ceremony seemed to spark UNM to a nice comeback in doubles for a 1-0 lead. UNM fell behind 1-0 when Natasha Munday and Hsuan Huang lost their first doubles match of the season, but UNM rebounded to take the first point.
At No. 2 doubles, Myu Kageyama and Chen took a 6-4 win, and then Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang and Satoho Toriumi won at No. 3 7-5 and UNM led 1-0.
However, Boise State took control of singles early, winning the first set on five of the six singles courts. Three of those wins translated into straight set wins, and the Broncos took a decisive 3-1 lead, but UNM certainly didn’t roll over.
Albie Huang brought UNM to 3-2 with a straight set win of her own, winning 6-3, 7-5. That left everything to Munday and Hsuan Huang. Both players were playing at nearly the same tempo, and both were able to win their second sets. For Huang, she won 6-4, making her opening set 7-3 tiebreaker loss all that harder to swallow.
For Munday, she and Pauline Ernstberger put on a pretty good show, each with blistering forehands to match up with Munday’s two-hand backhand. Both painted the lines several times, but Ernstberger tried to be a little too fine at the end of the second set, and Munday made her pay with a 7-5 win, and both matches went to third sets.
On both, Lobos served first, and on both, Munday and Huang were broken twice in the first three games to fall behind 3-0. Munday fell behind 4-0 before holding serve, and at 5-1 she stayed in the match with a solid service game. Huang fell behind 3-1 and had a chance to hold serve and mover her match to 3-2, but her opponent Holly Stewart won critical deuce deciding points at 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, and 3-1, showcasing how close the match was.
Huang was moving towards a break at 5-2 when Ernstberger ended the match for BSU at 6-2. The Lobos now hit the road for a pair of neutral matches in Colorado Springs as UNM will face Colorado State at 10 a.m. on Friday and Wyoming on Saturday at 10 a.m.
NOTES: Ironically next week will be the second straight week UNM and Air Force will compete at the same venue but not play each other … UNM was looking to tie for it’s best start in the last 15 years.
