Lobos Take Jack Kennedy Classic Title 5-2 Over Zags
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Last year, in what was just the second career dual match for a majority of the New Mexico Lobos, Gonzaga bounced back from a 1-0 deficit to win four of five singles wins and a 4-2 win. One year later, with Gonzaga sporting a near duplicate lineup, UNM showed how advanced they have moved in a years time.
The Lobos, again holding a 1-0 lead after doubles, flipped the script, recording four singles wins to defeat the visitng Gonzaga Bulldogs 5-2 and take the team title in the inaugural Jack Kennedy Classic. The tournament’s namesake, who was honored between doubles and singles, was on hand to award the Lobos the team title trophy.
Much like a year ago, UNM swept its way to the doubles point. Arda Azkara and Daniil Kakhniuk opened doubles play with a 6-2 win over Arthus Bassetiere and Leon Roider. with that match over, UNM needed just one of the other two doubles matches, and it came at No. 3 as Rafael Abdulsalam and Georgio Samaha won their second doubles match of the week, giving UNM the point. UNM’s Jan Pucalka and Alex Maggs were trailing 6-5 at No. 1 to Matthew Hollingworth and Sasha Trkulja, but they were moments from a tiebreaker.
Up 1-0, and after a ceremony for Kennedy in front of over 200 fans, UNM went to work. Last year, only Jan Pucalka picked up a singles win, doing so at No. 5. This year, Pucalka was on the sidelines as UNM slotted in true freshman Nikolay Sysoev into the No. 3 singles position. That moved Aram Noroozian to No. 4, Ryoma Matsushita to No. 5 and Georgia Samah to No. 6.
That move worked for UNM as the Lobos took four of the opening sets among the six matches to firmly put UNM in control. Gonzaga got a point on the board when Oliver Andersson took out Noroozian 6-4, 6-2, but while that technically tied the match, UNM was in complete control. Azkara finished off a perfect weekend with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Trkulja, avenging last year’s 6-2, 7-6 striaght set loss. That was followed by the plucky freshman Sysoev. The match was the first of his career as he did not get into a match in the fall, nor play in the opener on Friday.
On Sunday, he got better as the match went on, winning eight of the final 10 games to notch career win No. 1 6-4, 6-2 over Hollingworth. That gave UNM a 3-1 lead, and it was all but over as Oregon transfer Matsushita was racing to a win. Matsushita was facing off with Tom Hann, who last year was leading 5-2 in a third set when that match ended. Matsushita was in c0mplete control, winning 6-1, 6-3 when Hann hit long to Ryo’s forehand. That gave UNM a 4-1 lead, clinching the win, although both other matches were played out.
Althought UNM’s win was a foregone conclusion, all eyes were on the No. 2 singles match as Rafael Abdulsalam went after de la Bassetiere. Last year Bassetiere won at No. 3, and Abdulsalam was looking for his first win of the spring, and looking to avenge a loss to Gonzaga at No. 2 a year ago. Abdulsalam, who struggled a tad in the opening set on Friday came out on fire, bolting to a 5-0 lead before winning the opening set 6-2. He then methodically moved Bassetiere around the backcourt, hitting a perfect shot down the line that his opponent could only return well long. Abdulsalam’s primal scream was the punctuation on his 6-2, 6-3 win. The final match went to Gonzaga just seconds later as Roider defeated Samaha 6-2, 7-5 as Roider broke Samaha twice in the final three games.
The Lobos, title in hand, have a week of just practice before hitting the road two weekends from now to take on New Mexico State in Las Cruces on Saturday, February 4.
NOTES: Kakhniuk has now played douboles with four partners (Samaha, Noroozian, Matsushita and now Azkara … UNM is 4-0 in doubles in the spring and 18-18 overall … the 2-0 start is UNM’s first 2-0 start since 2015, which was UNM’s last 20-win season.