Lobos Edged 4-3 By No. 54 Santa Clara

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the third time this season, the Lobos were edged by a 4-3 scor, this time by No. 54 Santa Clara, ending UNM’s six-match winning streak.  The Lobos, ranked No. 69, won’t have it any easier with a road match on Friday at Texas Tech before a home match with No. 38 Denver.

UNM took the doubles point as the Lobos mixed the lineup, sitting Arda Azkara, who had played at No. 1 with Alex Maggs.  Instead, Maggs pairs with Ryoma Matsushita at No. 1, Georgio Samaha paired with Aram Noroozian at No. 2 and Avery Tallakson and Rafael Abdulsalam were at No. 3.  Samaha and Noroozian won 6-3 and Tallakson and Abdulsalam were 6-4 winners as UNM took the doubles point.

The match turned early in singles when Abdulsalam was defaulted in the first set for conduct.  That made it 1-1, and Santa Clara grabbed two more wins to go up 3-1.  However, Azkara beat No. 54 Christian Lerby 7-5, 6-4 to mak it 3-2, and Aram Noroozian won 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) to even things at 3-3.

That lft things to Alex Maggs, who fought back from 4-1 down in the second set to be down 5-4 on serve, but a drop shot just ticked the net and stay on Maggs’ side to give Santa Clara a harrowing 4-3 win.