Lobos Down USU 4-2, Advance to MW Championship Match
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Avery Tallakson’s ace finished off No. 3 Utah State, sending the No. 72 Lobos into the Mountain West Championship match were the Lobos will take on No. 1 seed and 42nd-ranked Boise State, which escaped with a harrowing 4-3 win over No. 4 seed Nevada.
That Tallakson was able to clinch the win for UNM was shocking in that early in his match, he looked like he would be wiped out early. Tallakson, who won a team high 24th singles match, was broken three times in the first five games and not only trailed Dmitri Goubin 5-0, but Goubin was serving and had set point. However, Tallakson was able to get a break, which at the time felt like a delay in the inevitable as he has won just three of his first 15 points on serve, but he flipped the script and went on a heater, winning six straight games and taking 21 of the following 25 points.
That opening set went to a tiebreaker and Tallakson won that 7-4. Through all that drama, the match was actually at 2-1 after UNM won the doubles point, Tallakson and Aditya Balsekar combining for a clinching win there after Daniil Kakhniuk and Nicolas Recoura opened with a 6-3 win at No.2. It was 2-1 as Dario Ciobotaru fell 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 but Aram Noroozian joined the 20-win club with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Sergi Mico Fenollar.
The match was rematch of a week ago where UNM won 4-1 in Logan, handing the Aggies their first home loss after 12 straight wins over two seasons. That match featured the same nine pairings, although due to only four indoor courts, Tallakson and Goubin played just two games. While Tallakson was waging his epic battle with Goubin, Kakhniuk won a second set tiebreaker for a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win over Eliot Nobel for a 3-1 lead. UNM needed to win either the third set at No. 2 or No. 6 with Balsekar or Tallakson, or have Georgio Samaha bounce back after an opening set tiebreak loss to Roman Venger.
A week after sweeping Venger, Samaha was able to force a third set, winning a deuce point at 5-4 that sent his family contingent on hand into a frenzy, and it was the first of many times teammate Nicolar Recoura, parked on Samaha’s match, came out with fist bumps, high fives and general one-man cheering status.
That meant UNM needed just one third set to clinch, while Utah State needed all three. They got the first of three they needed when Mohamman Alkotop, who accounted for the only point last week, beat Balsekar 6-2 in the third set after the two traded service games over the first five. However, Tallakson and Samaha each took a lead and it started to come down to who would finish first. Thanks to his fourth and final ace of the contest, it was Tallakson, winning 6-4 in the third, just ahead of Samaha, who was up 5-2 and was 15-all at the clinch.
The win sets up a rematch of last Saturday’s close 4-3 loss to Boise State, a match played in Boise where the Broncos went unbeaten on the season. BSU won that one on the strength of a decided victory at No. 1 singles as No. 120 Jett Middleton won in two tiebreakers over Noroozian. UNM had gotten singles wins from Samaha and Tallakson plus the doubles point. That win clinched the outright regular season title for BSU and denied UNM the No. 1 seed and a share of that title. Now the two will play for a guaranteed spot in the NCAA Tournament, with BSU in a good position for an at-large berth.
NOTES: Noroozian won his 20th of the season, giving UNM four 20-match winners, with Samaha sitting at 19 wins … Noroozian tied Roy Canada and Walter Brooks for 24th on the all-time UNM singles wins list with 66.
