The UNM women's tennis team cleaned house at the UNM Fall Invite Sunday, crowning champions in all six classes of competition.
"We pretty much dominated the tournament," assistant coach Roy Ca§ada said. "We lost a few matches here and there, but overall we've shown overwhelmingly that we're the strongest team."
Competing in the invite were Air Force, New Mexico State, the University of Texas-El Paso and the University of Texas-San Antonio.
Leading the Lobos was freshman Iva Gersic, who punished her opponents from the baseline en route to the championship in the top-flight draw. Gersic crushed UTSA's Chantal Lesaar 6-1, 6-2 in the final.
"I don't feel like I played very well, but I played enough to win," Gersic said.
She added she felt she could over-power her opponents with her groundstrokes.
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In the second flight, senior Tjasa Suvak overcame a tight first set in the final, but eventually cruised to a 7-5, 6-2 victory over NMSU's Aline Opala.
"This semester my serve hasn't been working well," Suvak said. "But this weekend I felt I put everything together. I tried to keep the ball in play and run everything down."
Junior Tiffany Robertson was another Lobo champion as she easily defeated NMSU's Sarah Baker in the third flight final. Robertson mixed up her game, following her powerful forehand to the net to keep Baker off balance in the 6-0, 6-4 final win.
"I felt like I was seeing the ball well," Robertson said. "My forehand was definitely on. I was trying to use that as much as possible."
Freshman Nora Quintal rounded out the singles' sweep with a hard-fought 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 win over the Aggies' Nicole Fintell. Quintal and Fintell traded heavy groundstrokes in numerous rallies in the first two sets before Quintal finally put her stamp on the game in the final set.
In the doubles draw, UNM was equally dominating as Gersic and senior Maria Ruiz-Fabrega won the first flight, while Quintal and Suvak teamed up to win the second flight.
Gersic and Ruiz-Fabrega downed teammates Robertson and junior Michelle Heidbrink 8-6 in the final.
"It's really tough playing your teammates," Robertson said. "You know how they play and what they do. But we had a good match."
Quintal and Suvak got an early break of serve and made it stand up in their second-flight championship win over the Air Force Academy's Katherine Bushey and Karissa Walker. The Lobos beat the Falcons 8-5 in the final.
Robertson said the overall performance of the team this weekend bodes well heading into the winter break.
"We won every flight and I definitely think we were the strongest team out here," Robertson said. "Winning is good for you. To come off a good weekend heading into the spring raises our confidence level."
The Lo bos don't return to action until Jan. 24, when they play host to Northern Arizona University.
