Lobos Handle NMSU Easily 6-1

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Apparently 6-1 was the order of the day for the UNM women’s tennis team.  The Lobos cruised past New Mexico State 6-1 to move to 6-1 on the season, heading into a Sunday match at UTEP at 10 a.m.

The match was never in any doubt as UNM easily took care of the doubles point, winning 6-0 and 6-1.  The shutout came at No. 2 doubles as Maud Vandeputte and Hsuan Huang took down Miranda Bishard and Bella Nguyen.  At No. 3, it was Sarah O’Connor and Maria Sodre over Dora Kurdi and Natsuki Nishimura.  UNM was also up 5-3 with Leonie Hoppe and Katherine Jhang when the doubles point was clinched.

In singles it was more of the same as UNM took the opening set on four courts and pushed through from there.  Vandeputte kept up a perfect spring with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Valeria Ivanovskaia at No. 4 singles, and O’Connor kept up her strong play at No. 1 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anna Pinaieva to give UNM a commanding 3-0 lead.

From there the win was clinched by Hsuan Huang as she beat Bishard at No. 5 6-4, 6-4.  The two teams played everything out, and Jhang made it 5-0 with a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 3 over Nishimura.  The Aggies finally got on the board when Zhu knocked off Hoppe 7-5, 6-4.  the final match turned into a comeback win for UNM with Satoho Toriumi bouncing back to beat Nguyen 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.