After losing two matches in the Pacific Mountain Invitational tournament, the Lobos were eager to return to their winning ways.
The Lobos had strung together five consecutive wins in the build-up to the Pacific Mountain Invitational, but lost 4-1 to both Fresno State University and the University of San Francisco in Stockton, California.
After the disappointing outing in California, the Lobos (6-8) had another week to prepare before playing matches against UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Northern Arizona University on Friday, Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.
UNM has been on the winning end of several epic matches earlier this season, but against UC Santa Barbara (7-4), the Lobos experienced the opposite, losing 4-3 in a heartbreaker.
The Lobos had a strong start against UCSB, seizing the doubles point through wins from the UNM duo of senior Rodolfo Jauregui and sophomore Ricky Hernandez-Tong, and from the doubles partnership of juniors Sean Baklini and Jorge Escutia.
In singles play, the momentum shifted in favor of UCSB. Junior Simon Freund defeated Jauregui at the No. 3 position 6-1, 6-2 and UCSB sophomore Anders Holm beat Lobo freshman Dominic West 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 4 position.
The Gauchos made it three singles wins in a row when senior Morgan Mays battled to triumph over Lobo junior Bart Van Leijsen 7-6, 7-5 at the No. 1 spot.
At an overall score of 3-1, the Gauchos only needed one more point to win the match — but the Lobos were far from finished.
At the No. 2 spot, Hernandez-Tong rallied to beat UCSB sophomore Nicolas Moreno de Alboran 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Baklini also fought back from behind in his match at the No. 6 position, winning 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 against Gaucho junior Chase Masciorini.
At this stage of the match, the overall score was 3-3. The deciding point rested on the shoulders of UNM’s Escutia and UCSB junior Cody Rakela.
Escutia won the first set 6-4, but lost the second set 7-5. Finally, in the third set, Rakela managed to oust Escutia 6-3, gifting the Gauchos a 4-3 victory over the Lobos.
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The Lobos will play again on Saturday against UC Irvine in Irvine, California. The Anteaters are 4-7 on the season but are unbeaten in their last three matches.
“The guys are hungry to get the bad taste out of our mouths and push for some more great matches this weekend,” UNM head coach Ben Dunbar said. “There’s no time to dwell on anything, just work harder and re-dedicate.”
The Lobos will have two days of rest before playing again on Tuesday, where they will take on Northern Arizona at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
The Lumberjacks are 5-4 on the season and are coming off of four consecutive wins. It will be just the second time the Lobos play at home this season.
Match play against UC Irvine will begin at 11:00 a.m. at the Anteater Tennis Stadium in Irvine, California.
Matthieu Cartron is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women’s soccer. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cartron_matt.
