Taborga, Sodre and Vandeputte Win Again as Lobos Down Rival NMSU 4-2

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — For the second straight match, UNM got singles wins from Maria Sodre and Sofia Taborga and a clinching victory at No. 2 singles by Maud Vandeputte as the Lobos downed rival New Mexico State 4-2 on Saturday, pushing the Lobos over .500 at 5-4 for the first time this season.  The New Mexico State squad dropped to 7-4 and had its four-match winning streak, all by shutout, snapped.

Much like last years’ 4-2 win for the Lobos over New Mexico State, the Lobos lost the doubles point, but this year after losing opening sets, both Maria Matsoukatidi and Sofia Taborga posted strong comeback wins.  UNM was down 2-0 after a loss at No. 3 singles by Sarah O’Connor to Whitney Moon but both Matsoukatidi and Taboarga needed to put up big comebacks.  It was 2-1 after Maria Sodre won 6-0, 7-5 at No. 5 singles when they went to work.

It was Taborga who went from down a set to domination, winning 2-6, 6-0, 6-0, taking the final 12 games of the match.  That made it 2-2 and Matsoukatidi put the finishing touches on a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles, and it was 3-2 UNM.  Vandeputte won her opening set 6-3, and went to a tiebreaker.  As her tiebreaker went long, her win was needed as UNM was down 5-7, 6-1, 5-2 at No. 1 singles.  While the tiebreaker was a back-and-forth affair, Vandeputte prevailed at 11-9 to beat Lisa Zhu at No. 2 and clinch the match.

The Lobos head to Texas next weekend to face Abilene Christian on Friday and Tarleton State on Saturday.

NOTES: Sodre now has a combined 20 wins on the season (11 in singles and nine in doubles) … Matsoukatidi climbed back to .500 overall as a freshman, going to 8-8 … Vandeputte’s win was her sixth straight … UNM is now 28-15 in singles this season in dual play …