Women's Tennis Shuts Out Nevada 4-0
RENO, Nev. —After back-to-back heartbreaking 4-3 losses and a string of tough luck that ended up spelling a six-match winning streak, UNM needed a well-played match and a result. They got both Friday in the Biggest Little City in America. New Mexico parlayed a tense doubles point win into a quick walk-through in singles as the Lobos took down Nevada 4-0 to even its record for the year at 8-8, and improve to 2-6 in the Mountain West. UNM will complete the 2021 season on Saturday in Reno at 2:30 p.m. against Fresno State.
UNM’s win was fueled by a gutty performance in doubles. UNM’s No. 1 doubles team of Natasha Munday and Hsuan Huang had no problem in their match, blasting Anastasia Luneva and Carla Del Barrio 6-0. Nevada picked up a win at No. 3 doubles, meaning the opening point, and momentum, hinged at No. 2 doubles. UNM’s tandem of Yue Lin “Polly” Chen and Myu Kageyama were even at 5-5, but snagged the final two games for a 7-5 win, putting UNM up 1-0.
From there it was easy. The Lobos took the opening set in all six singles matches, and basically led or were on serve in all six matches. The only drama was which three Lobos would pick up wins. Hsiang-Wen Albie Huang picked up the first win, taking No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-1, and then Hsuan Huang took No. 3 singles 7-5, 6-1. The clincher was turned in by Satoho Toriumi, who won at No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-2 to cap off the 4-0 win.
NOTES: Toriumi evened her season record at 3-3 … Munday and Huang improved to 9-3 in doubles, all at No. 1.