Lobos Stay Perfect in MW with 4-0 Win Over Nevada
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The UNM women’s tennis team just keeps on rolling. This time it was Maud Vandeputte with little help from her sister Bente but UNM swept the Nevada Wolf Pack 4-0 on Friday to move to 17-1 on the season and 6-0 in the Mountain West with just three matches left in the regular season. UNM hosts No. 65 San Diego State in a big match on Sunday at 11 am.
Maud Vandeputte came back from down 5-4 in the second set to clinch the win for UNM. Up 6-5 in the final game, she hit three aces including on a second serve up 40-30 to end the two and a half-hour match.
It looked good for UNM as the Lobos had third-set leads on all three other courts when Vandeputte ended it.
UNM was up 3-0 because Leonie Hoppe rolled to 6-0, 6-1 win and Katherine Jhang was right there as well with a 6-0, 6-2 win. Those two wins set up Vandeputte for the clincher.
The doubles point was a tight affair as all three matches at one point were tied at 4-4. Down 4-3 in the middle court, Hsuan Huang and Maria Sodre got a break of serve to pull ahead 5-4 and then serve out a 6-4 win to give UNM the first half of the doubles point.
That usually means a win as UNM has only lost once at No. 2 doubles all season and once at No. 1. Still, Katherine Jhang and Leonie Hoppe were in a dogfight with Amahee Charrier and Anastasia Luneva, but down 5-4, Leonie Hoppe served a love-set game to tie it and each team broke the other sending it to a tiebreak.
It looked like that tiebreak would decide it as the Vandeputte twins trailed 5-4 and were staring at deuce and set point, but Bente and Maud both hit terrific cross-court shots, the second of which was hit into the net, and they played on, getting a break to go up 6-5. Bente then served out the set, giving UNM the doubles point with Jhang and Hoppe getting a no-decision after taking a 3-2 lead in the tiebreaker.
NOTES: Hoppe won her 20th singles match of the season, and Huang and Jhang each won their 20th doubles match of the season.