ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- New Mexico split a doubleheader on Saturday, dropping the opening match 4-2 to Abilene Christian before bouncing back and defeating Lubbock Christian 4-0 to close out the day and move to 8-3 on the season.
UNM again played without two stalwarts in the lineup in Lea Malazdra and Ana Veroux, who have now missed four and five straight matches.
In the opener, New Mexico snagged the doubles point. Down 1-0 after a loss at No. 1 doubles, the Lobos got a 6-3 win at No. 2 from Bente Vandeputte and Kathy Tsai, and then the Corley sisters closed things out with a 6-4 win at No. 3 to give UNM a 1-0 lead.
The Lobos got a win and a 2-0 lead when Tsai won 6-4, 6-2 over Angela Del Campo, but ACU got a pair of straight set wins to tie it at 2-2. Maria Cascos at No. 2 singles edged out Vianca Corley in a first-set tiebreaker 7-4 and won her match 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, while Victoria Correa edged out Ramona Petre 7-5, 6-4 at No. 5.
That set up a situation in which the final three matches were all in third sets, and ACU won two of them. Masha Vrsalovic beat Vandeputte at No. 1 singles 6-4, 2-6, 6-3, and Alice Klinteby took down Sarah L’Allier in a comeback 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Vivica Corley’s match at No. 6 ended in the third, tied at 4-4.
In the nightcap, UNM again got a doubles point win with a new lineup. Vianca and Vivica Corley won at No. 2 6-2, and Vandeputte and Petre teamed up at No. 3 for a 6-2 win to make it 1-0 UNM.
From there, the Lobos got three wins to clinch it. Tsai won again, this time 6-2, 4-0, before her opponent retired, and that made it 2-0. Vianca won at No. 6 6-2, 6-2 to make it 3-0, and Petre, moving up to No. 4, won 6-4, 6-2, just ahead of Marika Matsoukatidi, who was closing in on a win at 7-5, 3-2.