Lobos Posts Pair of 7-0 Sweeps

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico got its season started on the right track with a pair of 7-0 sweeps, winning over both Western New Mexico and Colorado College on Saturday at the Linda Estes Tennis Center in a pair of matches played inside the Indoor Bubbles.

Colorado College defeated Western New Mexico 4-3 in a marathon match that took nearly four hours and delayed the start of the 4 p.m. UNM/Colorado College match to a 5:23 pm start.

There was no delay in the morning match as UNM swept both doubles matches to take the opening point.  The Vandeputte twins, Maud and Bente, won 6-2 at No. 1 doubles and Hsuan Huang and Maria Sodre won 6-1 at No. 2.  There was no No. 3 doubles and WNMU was down a play due to injury.

It was the same story in singles with five straight-set sweeps to couple with a default at No. 6 singles.

UNM’s top four flights of Sarah O’Connor, Huang, and the two Vandeputtes combined to allow just nine total games against them in eight total sets.  The only real drama was at No. 5 singles, but Sofia Taborga won her opening set 7-5 and then raced to a 6-1 win in the second.

UNM had an extended break, but you couldn’t tell.  In doubles against Colorado College, Sodre and Huang played at No. 1 and won 6-2 while Maud and Bente won 6-0 and Leonie Hoppe and O’Connor did the same.

In singles, UNM rolled.  Hoppe, playing at No. 4, made it 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win while Maria Sodre at No. 6 won 6-2, 6-0.  Huang took a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles to make it 4-0 UNM.

The Vandeputtes followed each other with wins as Bente took a 6-0, 6-2 decision at No. 5 and Maud won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3.  That left it to O’Connor to finish it off, which she did at No. 1 with a 6-2, 6-1 win.

The Lobos head on the road for three matches next week in Spokane.  UNM faces Seattle on Friday, Gonzaga on Saturday, and Eastern Washington on Sunday, all in Spokane on Gonzaga’s campus.