Lobos Cruise Over UNLV to Stay Unbeaten
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It was billed as a battle of the last two unbeatens in the Mountain West. Now, UNM not only is the last unbeaten, but they’ve barely been touched. New Mexico cruised past UNLV 4-0 in just under two hours to take a solitary hold of first place as the last unbeaten team in the Mountain West at 3-0. UNM now will ready itself for a Sunday senior day match with San Diego State at 1 p.m at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
The only drawback to Friday’s match is the wind that hit Albuquerque, forcing the match to move indoors. That meant a loss of fans due to the current state health order. That would be the only loss incurred on this day. UNM took a 1-0 lead with a sweep in doubles. Jake Trondson and Raul Dobai took a 6-3 win on court two, winning the final three games to put UNM a leg up. The other two courts were battles, with Stepan Holis and Alex Maggs deadlocked at 5-5 while on court 1, UNM’s No. 59 ranked tandem of Dominic West and Sergio Molina were broken in the first game but got it right back. Everything stayed on serve until UNM was up 6-5. With Jordan Sauer serving, UNM was able to get a break of serve for a 7-5 win and the doubles point.
UNM then had to make a late injury sub, which meant a shuffling of the bottom of the lineup. Rafael Abdulsalam was ruled out, meaning Sergio Molina would slide up to No. 4, Jake Trondson up to No. 5, and Nicolas Prieto would now play at No. 6, only his second official match in over a year.
You wouldn’t know it.
Prieto provided the lift the Lobos needed, deftly forcing Zach Garner to chase everywhere in a 6-1 opening set win that set the tone for singles. West, playing at No. 2 followed with a 6-1 set win of his own, and UNM’s squad was firmly in control. The Lobos got two more opening set wins, including a thriller by Raul Dobai at No. 1. The reigning Mountain West Player of the Week drew perhaps his toughest assignment in UNLV graduate transfer Alex Kobelt, who helped Ohio State go 32-3 in 2019 and led the Buckeyes to a National Indoor Title. Kobelt’s serve might be the only one to compare with Dobai’s, but Raul was able to return enough to get Kobelt moving, and the junior from Vancouver made him pay nearly every time. He took a huge break to make it 5-3 and then served out his opening set as Trondson did likewise at No. 5.
UNM had four opening sets to two for UNLV, and the Lobos didn’t waste the advantage. West, looking more and more like the West of 2019 that carried the Lobos on his back to a title, blitzed Eric Samuelsson 6-1, 6-1, taking the final four games for a 2-0 lead. Prieto then closed out his match 6-1, 6-4, and about a minute later Trondson’s winner down the line finished off the shutout.
The clinch meant Dobai didn’t get to finish his match after another break put him up 6-3, 4-3 and serving. Molina, who lost his opening set 6-4 had bounced back and was up 4-1 at the clinch, and Stepan Holis was gritty in his match. He lost his opening set 7-6 (7-2) but was down 4-0, and then broke serve three straight times to force a tiebreaker. He was on serve but down 2-1 in the second when everything was halted.
UNM at 5-8 overall and 3-0 in the Mountain West has a one-game lead over Fresno State, Boise State and UNLV, who are all 2-1. UNM owns tiebreakers over both Fresno State and UNLV, and UNM travels to Boise State next week. First, the Lobos have to get by San Diego State, who is 3-10 overall and 0-3 in the league. Those records are deceiving on two levels. One, the Aztecs have played well and run into some tough luck and tough scheduling and two, they are led by former Lobo Gene Carswell and are the last team in the league to beat UNM, winning in the 2019 MW semifinals 4-3.
NOTES: UNM has won 12 straight MW matches dating back to April 13, 2018 … West won his 56th singles match and 56th doubles match. He is now tied for 30th all-time at UNM in doubles wins and with his next win he would move to a tie for 28th with his former teammate and current assistant coach Ricky Hernandez Tong … UNM has won the doubles point in nine of 13 matches and four in a row … Trondson has won five of his last six, the only loss to No. 22 Texas Tech.