First Place Lobos Head North for a Pair
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team heads right back out on the road for another pair of tough tests, taking on Boise State and Utah State as the squad looks to continue its winning ways.
UNM’s match with Boise State will take place Thursday at noon, and might have to move indoors due to wet weather expected in the Boise area. Saturday’s match at Utah State will be at 11 a.m. Watch links are listed on the Lobo schedule page along with above.
The Lobos are off to a historic start, sitting at 14-1 overall and 3-0 in the Mountain West. The Lobos only played once last week after their match with Fresno State was canceled due to rain. The Lobos did face San Jose State and turned in a wild come-from-behind 4-3 victory in which Katherine Jhang once again clinched the match with a win in the finale.
Jhang, who also had clinching victories when tied at 3-3 at Gonzaga and against Northern Arizona, was named the Mountain West Player of the Week for her efforts. It gave UNM back-to-back awards as her doubles teammate Leonie Hoppe also won the honor last week. It marked the first back-to-back Players of the Week for UNM since 2016, and it is the first time it’s ever happened for UNM during conference play.
Down 3-1, UNM needed three comeback wins in the third set, and got all three. Maria Sodre, who has turned into a key contributor in singles, got the first one with a 6-3 win in the third to make it 3-2. Hoppe then won a tiebreaker in the third set 7-3 to make it 3-3, but Jhang was down 4-1 in the third.
However, she twice broke serve and bounced back to sweep the final five games for a wild 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win, putting UNM in first place at 3-0, and making UNM one of two unbeatens in the league (Fresno State is the other at 2-0).
Boise State is sitting at 6-8 on the season, losing both matches last week to fall to 2-2 in the Mountain West. Utah State is struggling currently having lost eight straight matches with a 3-11 record overall, and 0-4 in the Mountain West, tied for 10th with Air Force.