PASADENA, Calif. --- The Lobos battled the Pacific Tigers in a back-and-forth tussle that ultimately saw the Tigers prevail 4-1 in the consolation match of the ITA Kickoff Classic.
The Tigers moved to 2-1, while UNM dropped to 2-2.
The match was a see-saw battle that saw the Tigers take a lead after doubles, only for UNM to roar back in singles before Pacific ultimately outlasted UNM. In doubles, Pacific got a pair of wins at No. 1 and No.2 doubles to take a 1-0 lead.
Singles were UNM bounced back. Dario Ciobotaru, Philip Bosin, Alberto Perez, and Tyler Waddock all won their opening sets to put UNM in a good position. However, four of the six matches would end up in a third set, including Carl Labitzke's match at No. 6 singles. He was down 6-1 and 3-1 before reeling off five straight games to force his third set.
The match was sitting at 2-1 after Bosing finished off Reuben De Klerk 6-4, 6-2. That was UNM's first point, and it followed a Jakub Prachar straight-set loss at No. 2 singles to Jony Giesen.
With all the other matches in a third set, Pacific took the two it needed for the win. Its third point came when Nico Rating bounced back from losing his first set to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 over Tyler Waddock. UNM hung tough, but couldn't get to the finish line as Labitzke fell to Niv Zuckerman 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Ciobotaru's match went unfinished, as did Alberto Perez's wild match in which he won the first set in a tiebreaker and then lost the second in a tiebreaker, with the third set 2-1 and potentially headed for a third tiebreaker.