LAS VEGAS, Nev. --- UNM went 0-1 in doubles and 0-3 in singles in the opening rounds of the 2025 Mountain West Fall Qualifiers, held at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas, but they sure showed fight. None more so than freshman Vianca Corley.
Facing the tournament's No. 1 seed in Nevada's Amahee Charrier, Corley staved off seven match points, oming from behind before ultimately losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. It was a match that epitomized the new-look Lobos at the tournament, with three of the four matches being decided by the slimmest of margins.
For Corley, it marked her first blemish after a 4-0 opening tournament run in Colorado at the Bedford Cup. Against Charrier Corley won the opening set and had a 5-2 lead in the second, even getting a match point at deuce up 5-3 on serve. However, she couldn't capitalize, and Charrier seemingly took over, winning the final five games of the second set, and then jumping to a 5-2 lead of her own in the third.
But Corley wouldn't go down without a fight. Down 5-2 and serving, she saved four match points, rebounding from love-40. Down 5-3 she broke after being down 40-30, saving match points five and six. After a love set serving to tie the match, Corley fell behind 6-5 and served against. This time she could quite get all the way back, ultimately falling 7-5 in the third set.
It was quite as dramatic, but Ana Veroux lost to Boise State's Tereza Polakova 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (8-6). In that one, Veroux had a match point up 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but she missed a volley, and lost three straight points to end the tiebreaker on the wrong side.
UNM's other singles match was Lea Malazdra, who lost in straight sets to Ana VanHouweling, the tournament's No. 7 seed.
In doubles, Malazdra and Veroux lost 8-6 to Grand Canyon's Isabella Crossman and Dania Deaifi.
Everyone will get a backdraw match in on Friday, but all are eliminated from getting into the finals, which would qualify for the NCAA Championships later in the Fall.