After Boise State came from behind to beat the Lobos Friday night, UNM bounced back as strong as ever and nearly swept the Colorado Buffaloes 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the Lobo Tennis Club.
Men's head coach Alan Dils said on a scale of one to 10, he would rate the weekend as a seven.
"Boise State was a very emotional match and Colorado is a very dangerous team," he said. "But this time we did a little bit better job of closing out, and the scores reflect that."
UNM dominated the Buffaloes from the start and won the doubles point behind the Lobos' No. 1 team, juniors Ryan Stotland and David Kowalski.
The top-tandem defeated Colorado foes Marcos Digilodo and Peter Bjork in an 8-4 match. But it was sophomore Henry Gers and senior Jasmine Hodzic, playing in the No. 2 spot, who clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 win over Colorado's Chad Tsuda and Elliott Quibell.
UNM seniors Divan Coetzee and Hiroud Akhavan sealed the win with a 9-7 victory over Marko Bundalo and Marck Dvorak. Coetzee and Akhavan rallied from a 3-1 deficit for the win.
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Coetzee went on to play at the No. 1 singles position for the Lobos and was one of six UNM players to go undefeated Sunday. Even though Colorado is not nationally ranked, Coetzee said it was not an easy effort.
"Colorado is a tough team, and we had a tough team yesterday," he said. "So I was a little sore in the beginning."
But Coetzee showed no signs of soreness, and made quick work of Colorado's No. 1 player, Digliodo, in two sets, 6-3 and 6-1.
Coetzee said he had a chance to scout Digliodo Friday night when Colorado played Boise State.
"He came out pretty consistent, and I didn't expect that," Coetzee said. "That threw me off a little bit."
Digliodo got caught up at the net on several occasions, which accounted for many of Coetzee's points.
Coetzee was able to fire the deep shots past the Colorado player and strike in both corners.
"I like to play at angles, and I like to toy with people," Coetzee said. "He played right into my hand."
Kowalski blew past Peter Bjork, 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 2 spot; Stotland defeated Dvorak in two 6-3 sets; Hodzic beat Tsuda 6-4, 6-1; and sophomore Nick Ames won the No. 6 spot over Bjork, with a pair of 6-4 victories.
Akhavan played in a long hard-fought battle against Bundalo and after falling 6-2 in the first set of the match, led 3-0 in the second. Akhavan was not able to hold on to the lead, and Bundalo came creeping back to eventually tie the score at five. Akhavan did not score again, but Bundalo was able to score on two more shots. Akhavan lost the second set 7-5.
"It's easy to get in a winning position, but it's tough to win," Dils said.
The men's tennis team will be back in action this weekend when it will go on an East Coast, Ivy League road swing, playing at Yale, Harvard and Brown.
