Open Announce
Frank Mercogliano photo

Lobos Topple Utah State 4-0

by Frank Mercogliano

LOGAN, Utah — There’s no word if there was some time to hit Charlie’s Supreme Ice Cream after the match, but the Lobo women’s certainly earned it if they could swing it.  The Lobos ended a seven-match losing streak and got back on the right side of the ledger with a solid 4-0 victory at Utah State on Sunday, moving UNM to 10-8 on the season and 1-5 in the Mountain West.  Utah State fell to 6-9 overall and 1-5 in the Mountain West.

The win wasn’t without a little bit of drama as UNM was trailing in two matches with Utah State a game away from winning at No. 1 and No. 5 singles.  However, the Lobos took three straight set singles wins to clinch the match.  It started in doubles, where UNM had to battle back to earn the opening point, which proved crucial.  Utah State’s Annaliese County and Carolina Millan won 6-1 at No. 3 doubles over Albie Huang and Sataho Toriumi to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead in doubles, but UNM won the other two matches.

First, Polly Chen and Myu Kageyama won 6-3 at No. 1 doubles, and that was followed by a 6-4 win at No. 2 by Hsuan Huang and Sarah O’Connor, putting UNM up 1-0 in the match.

UNM then took four of the opening sets over six singles matches to put themselves in the driver’s seat.  Toriumi made quick work of Gabrielle Dekkers at No. 6, winning 6-1, 6-2 to give UNM a 2-0 lead.  THe Lobos then finished it off with Kageyama winning her 20th singles match of the season 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4 over County and Hsuan Huang winning 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 to clinch it at No. 3 over Zara Ryan.

Utah State won the opening sets at No. 1 and No. 5 singles and led 5-3 and 5-1 respectively there when the match ended.  O’Connor, playing at No. 2, was leading 1-0 in the third.

The Lobos return home to host San Jose State on Friday at 1:30 pm and Fresno State on Saturday at 11 am.  Saturday will also serve as Senior Day on a busy day around the Spring Sports Complex as Lobo softball hosts Fresno State at 11 am and Lobo Baseball hosts San Diego State at noon.

NOTES:  Kageyama now has a team-best 36 wins combining singles and doubles.