Lobo Drop Match to Washington 4-0

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The No. 71 UNM Lobos went up against head coach Chris Russell’s old squad, the No. 44 Washington Huskies, and despite a game effort and having a shot, Washington was able to sneak away with a 4-0 win, handing UNM its fifth straight loss.

This was was not like yesterday’s 4-0 loss to No. 37 San Diego in that UNM was in it the whole way.  Washington did sweep the doubles point, and for the second straight day, UNM’s No. 1 player Arda Azkara took on a top-10 singles player, this time Clement Chidekh, who is ranked No. 3.  Azkara battled hard but it just wasn’t enough as the freshman lost 6-3, 6-2.  That made it 3-0 Huskies as Aram Noroozian had lost 6-3, 6-3 just prior.

Yet, down 3-0 UNM was in it as Rafael Abdulsalam was down a set after a 7-6 tiebreak loss, and both Jan Pucalka and Georgio Samaha were in third sets, and Alex MAggs was trying to get there as well.  Maggs lost his first set 6-1 but was up 4-1 in the second before his opponent Han-Chih Lin took the final five games, giving Washington the 4-0 win.

UNM (5-7) has one more match in San Diego, taking on Boston University at 1 p.m. on Saturday.