Lobos Win In Wild Comeback Over BYU 4-3
PROVO, Utah — Having only four indoor courts makes for long matches, and dramatic finishes. New Mexico won the doubles point, fell behind 3-1 and then needed wins at Nos. 5 and 6 singles by Ryomo Matsushita and Georgio Samaha to cap a wild come-from-behind 4-3 win and keep UNM perfect at 4-0 on the season.
The 3-0 start matches UNM’s best start since 2014, when the team opened the season 7-0 under Alan Dils.
That the match even went to the final two singles matches was set up by an equally wild doubles point that saw both teams have leads, lose leads, and ultimately be decided on a third match tiebreaker.
It was BYU that opened the scoring in a match that UNM frankly had complete control of. The Lobos pairing of Rafael Abdulsalam and Georgio Samaha at No. 3 double held a 4-2 lead, up a break at a time when UNM was losing on the other two courts. However, after Jack Barnett and Brigham Andrus held serve, the pair broke twice, once down 4-3 and then up 5-4 to take a 6-4 win.
However, that’s all BYU got. Arda Azkara and Aram Noroozian were down 4-3 but battled back to win four of the final five games for a 7-5 win. That tied it, and Alex Maggs and Jan Pucalka got a break at 6-5 to force a tiebreaker, which they dominated. Tied at 1-1, UNM reeled off the final six points to take No. 1 doubles over Wally Thayne and Zach Fuchs to give UNM a 1-0 lead.
That lead was big as UNM lost all four opening sets in singles, with Azkara dropping a 6-4 set to Thayne at No. 1 and Abdulsalam dropping a 6-2 set to Barnett. Nikolay Sysoev likewise lost his opening set by that same 6-2 score to Mateo Vereau, and Aram Noroozian at No. 4 dropped a 6-4 opener to Zach Fuchs. UNM needed a comeback somewhere to allow Matsushita and Samaha to even get on a court.
GEORGIO FOR THE WIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!!!!!! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/wZ0a4OhWxb
— UNM Men’s Tennis (@UNMLoboMTennis) February 9, 2023
That comeback eventually came from Noroozian, but not before UNM feel behind 3-1. Thayne finished off Azkara, the first loss of the spring for Arda with a quick 6-1 set in the second to even things at 1-1. Abdulsalam couldn’t hold a 5-4 lead in the second set, losing his match 7-5, giving the Cougars a 2-1 lead. With Matsushita and Dominik Jakovljevic warming up, Sysoev was able to fight back in the second set down to force a 6-6 tiebreaker, but after saving a match point at 6-5, he couldn’t replicate that feat at 7-6, losing hit match and making it 3-1.
Noroozian however saved the day with a strong comeback. After losing the first set 6-4 to Fuchs, he turned things around in the final two, winning 6-2 and 6-3 to set up the riveting finale.
Matsushita and Samaha held control of their matches from the beginning, with Matashita getting a good 30-minute head start on his match. He took advantage of an early break for a 3-1 lead and rode that to a 6-4 opening set win as Samaha also got an early break. As Georgio’s opening set concluded at 6-3 in his favor, Matsushita put the finishing touches on his fourth straight win, taking the second set in a cakewalk 6-1. That left everything up to Samaha on Court 4.
Up a set, Samaha again got an early break for a 2-0 lead, and expounded that with another break to go up 5-2, serving for the match. UNM’s celebration would be slightly delayed as Redd Owen hit a cross court winner to get one of the breaks back, and then served three straight points before splitting the last two to creep back into it at 5-4.
That put Samaha back on serve, and he delivered on a second match point. Up 40-30, Samaha hit long, raced to the bench and switched racquets. Whether he grabbed the “close-out-the-match-at-deuce racquet is unknown, but it worked. His serve was true, and Owens’ return was barely in. Samaha hit a forehand into the back right corner and he raced to the net. Owen tied to bankhand lob the return, but he left it right in Samaha’s wheelhouse. He fired it right back where it came from and Owen could only watch as the ball slammed into the corner of the court and bounced past for the match-winner.
From there, Samaha’s racquet went in one direction, his hat in another before his teammates raced to meet him to celebrate.
That celebration will be short-lived however as UNM continues on with a match at 10 am in Salt Lake City against Utah.
Who says you can’t party in Provo?#GoLobos pic.twitter.com/pE8ZQv8d5t
— UNM Men’s Tennis (@UNMLoboMTennis) February 9, 2023
NOTES: Matsushita moved to 4-0 in the spring … Samaha’s win was his team-leading 11th of the year … Maggs and Pucalka’s clinching doubles win was their second of the spring, moving to 2-1 … UNM won the doubles point for the third time in four matches … UNM is now 10-2 combined in the bottom three flights in singles … UNM evened the all-time series with BYU 34-34-1.