Lobo Season Ends with Loss to No. 5 Stanford at NCAA Tournament

PALO ALTO, Calif. — New Mexico’s draw into the NCAA Tournament was a Herculean task, facing national championship contender and No. 4 overall seed Stanford.  The Lobos might not have won, but the Lobos certainly showed they belonged.  The 5th-ranked Cardinal swept a well-contested doubles point and then used a pair of quick wins to fuel a 4-0 victory over the No. 62 Lobos, ending UNM’s historic season at 16-9.

Stanford moved to 23-5 and advanced to take on Pepperdine, 4-3 winners in a match over Alabama that took 4 1/2 hours and delayed the UNM match by almost 90 minutes.

The Cardinal got off to a 1-0 lead with two doubles wins.  While Samir Banerjee and Alex Razeghi, ranked 48th in the latest ITA poll, took down Aditya Balsekar and Avery Tallakson 6-1, the other two matches were nailbiters.  With Aram Noroozian and Georgio Samaha up 5-4 and headed for a potential win over No. 70 Nico Godsick and Hudson Rivera, the Lobos needed for Daniil Kakhniuk and Nicolas Recoura to hold on with No. 47 Henry von der Schulenburg and Kyle Kang, trailing 5-3.  They almost did.

Facing three set points, Kakhniuk and Recoura got a slam and then forced an error to move everything to duece.  Stanford held on when off a return, von der Schulenburg hit a passing shot just beyond Recoura’s 6-5 reach and just inside the line for the winning point, giving the Cardinal a 1-0 lead.

That lead moved to 3-0 when Kang beat Balsekar 6-1, 6-0 and No. 101 Max Basing won 6-2, 6-3 over Dario Ciobutaru.  UNM would need the remaining four matches, and the path was there.  Avery Tallakson was leading 6-4, 4-3 and serving up 40-15. Noroozian was down a set but even in the second, 6-3, 3-3 and Georgio Samaha was in a close one, losing 7-5, 1-1.  Kakhniuk though had the task of facing Razeghi, and while he battled throughout, ultimately it was Razeghi who prevailed 6-2, 6-3 for the 4-0 win.