Men's Tennis Edged by Undefeated Denver 4-3

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Two tiebreakers, two crazy shots … one lucky bounce, one unlucky.  In the end, UNM needed both bounces.  A key tiebreaker that decided the doubles point turned on a wild point in which a near-crazy save by UNM was thwarted when the ball hit the umpire’s chair.  That doubles point went to Denver and was the difference in a 4-3 win that kept the No. 38 Denver Pioneers unbeaten at 13-0, and gave UNM a fourth loss this season by a 4-3 score.

While that bounce didn’t go UNM’s way, Arda Azkara got a bounce on his final point that served as a bit of late justice for him.  After losing a tense opening set tiebreaker 7-5 in which every point was won on serve except for the 11th, Azkara bounced back to win his second set 6-3 and force a third that went into a 10-point tiebreaker.  Up 9-7, Azkara hit a backhand from well left of the court that was clearly going wide.  Instead, the ball bounced off the net cord and kicked back right into the court as No. 109 Nicolas Herrero Cuesta could only watch, giving Azkara his fourth win this season over a ranked opponent and a perfect 22-0 record at home at No. 1.

The fact that the match wasn’t for all the marbles seemed a forgone conclusion after Denver won the doubles point and then took all six opening singles sets.  UNM was going to need four three-set wins to down Denver, and UNM nearly got there.

After losing the doubles point and going down 2-0 when Raffaello Papjcik defeated Rafael Abdulsalam 6-4, 6-4, UNM forced third sets at No. 4 by Georgio Samaha, at No. 3 by Arthur Bellegy, at No. 6 by Alex Maggs and of course by Azkara at No. 1.

Samaha fell in his third 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to Rikuto Yamaguchi.  UNM missed an opportunity to force another third set when Aram Noroozian was long on set point at 5-4, 40-40.

Maggs finished off his comeback with a solid 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory to get a point back.  Down 3-1, Azkara was putting the finishing touches on his second set win and Bellegy hd done likewise at No. 3 against Daniel Sancho Arbizu, who ws clearly laboring and hurting.

Bellgey was winning in his third set early when Noroozian and Mrvin Schaber went to a tiebreaker.  After falling behind 4-1, Noroozian fought back for 5-4 lead, but Schaaber forced match point at 6-5.

Noroozian saved that when his forehand was returned long, but at 6-6, Noroozian hit into the net.  With a second match point, Schaber aaced Noroozian down the center line for a 4-1 win.

With the match secured, Arbizu retired to give Bellegy the win, making it 4-2 and setting up Azkara’s 22nd straight home win.

NOTES: Bellegy now leads the team with a 17-6 singles record … UNM is a combined 10-1 at No. 1 and 10-2 at No. 3.