ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- There are comebacks, and there are wild comebacks, and then there is whatever it was that the New Mexico Lobos pulled off on Sunday, coming back from 3-0 down and seemingly done for several times to pull off a stunning 4-3 win. The victory moved UNM to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in Mountain West play, while Nevada dropped to 4-7 overall and 0-2.
A lot of the drama could have been avoided with a win in doubles to give UNM a 1-0 lead, but it wasn't meant to be. Vianca and Vivica Corley cleaned house at No. 3 doubles, winning 6-0 easily over Wiem Boubaker and Kennedy Robinson, but that was the only point UNM got.
At No. 1 singles, Sarah L'Allier and Comba Ben Niangadou returned to that slot but lost 6-3 to Silvia Costache and Marlene Foerster. Everything fell to No. 2 doubles, where UNM trailed 6-5, but Yu Yun "Kathy" Tsai served UNM into a tiebreaker after a hard passing shot.
In the tiebreaker, Costache and Foerster jumped out to a 4-0 lead and pushed to a 7-2 tiebreaker win, giving Nevada a 1-0 lead.
The Wolf Pack took a 3-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-2 win by Amahee Charrier over Vandeputte at No. 1 and a 6-3, 6-2 win by Boubaker at No. 6 over Lea Malazdra.
From there, it looked like a Nevada win, but UNM still had four playing; those four, Vianca Corley, Ana Veroux, Tsai, and Marika Matsoukatidi, wouldn't be denied.
The good news is that all four had opening-set wins, though Matsoukatidi's first set win didn't come until everyone was well into a second set. UNM's two through four players all dropped the second set, and that's where it all went haywire.
Tsai had four opportunities in her second set to clinch a win, but she ended up in a tiebreaker against Petra Jarigova, and she lost it 7-6 (7-5).
Corley, who won her first 6-3 and lost her second set in a tiebreaker 7-2, won her third 6-4 after a break of serve to get UNM on the board, and Tsai followed right after with a 6-1 third set win.
That made it 3-2, but Veroux, in her third set, was down 4-0 after a break of serve. That's when she turned her match and the Lobo fortunes around.
Down 4-0, Veroux got the first break she needed when her opponent, Costache, sent a ball long to make it 4-2. Veroux got it to 4-3 with an ace, and then she broke Costache again when Costache hit a shot into the net.
Costache held for 5-4, but Veroux held and got a third break to give herself a 6-5 lead. However, Costache bounced right back, taking a Love-40 lead before ultimately forcing the tiebreaker at 40-30.
In the tiebreaker, Veroux led 4-2 at the turn after she hit one into Costache's feet. Up 5-4, Veroux got back-to-back points to win. First, Costache again hit into the net for a 6-4 lead, and then on serve, Veroux made a great return of a slam, and then came to the net, putting away her out slam for a 7-4 tiebreak win, putting the match at 3-3.
That was just the appetizer. Matsoukatidi bounced back from down 6-5 against Kennedy Robinson to force a tiebreaker as well. Robinson held a 6-4 lead, one point away from forcing a winner-take-all third set.
In a long baseline rally, Matsoukatidi got a chance to go to the net, and she hammered home a winner to make it 6-5, with the serve coming to her. Then, on the 23rd shot of the next rally, she forced Robinson to stretch and hit long, tying the set at 6-6.
Robinson quickly made it 7-6 on a mishit for a third straight set point, but again, Matsoukatidi delivered, hitting a winner down the line to make it 7-7. Robinson double-daulted to give Marika a match point, but Robinson's net slam tied it again at 8-8.
Matsoukatidi got a second match point when Robinson hit a drop shot into the net, but she bounced back with a winner of her own to make it 9-9. Normally, the players swap sides, but the players, the officials, and everyone missed it. Robinson took a 10-9 lead when Matsoukatidi returned a serve long, but Marika saved match point again with a winner. Tied at 10-10, the players then switched sides, although the score was announced as 9-9. Robinson hit long, and on her serve, down 11-10, she double-faulted to touch a wild celebration.
The Lobos travel to Fresno State and San Jose State next weekend, starting on Friday.