by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's tennis team is closer to a bid to February's Central Region national meet.
In the four-team Central Region playoffs, the Lobos defeated Tulsa in the first round and Brigham Young in the championship round.
UNM took on Tulsa in three doubles matches to open the tournament. Lobos pair Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic took on Tulsa's Daniela Muscolino and Carla Zabaleta. The match was close the whole way, but the UNM duo was able to pull away, winning 8-5.
The Lobo women needed to win just two of their three doubles matches in order to get the doubles point, and the team of senior Michelle Heidbrink and freshman Lucy Scott did that relatively easily. They started quickly, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and cruising to an 8-1 victory.
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With the doubles point won for UNM, the women needed to win three of their six singles matches in order to defeat Tulsa and move on. All six of the women went out and did just that, decisively winning the first three matches to move on to the final round.
In those matches, Lobo All-American Kovacek beat Muscolino, one of the top-ranked female tennis players in the nation.
After BYU defeated Colorado in the second round, the championship was on the line, pitting the Cougars against the Lobos. In doubles, sophomore Nora Quintal and freshman Jennifer Ryba of UNM fell behind early and despite a late surge, lost their match, 8-6.
Scott and Heidbrick once again dominated their doubles match, winning 8-2.
"We just played really well, flawless," Scott said.
It came down to the Lobos' top duo, Kovacek and Gersic. They fell behind the BYU pair of Lauren Jones and Dolly Chang, 3-1, but fought back and scrapped their way to a 9-7 victory to help win the doubles point.
UNM also took on BYU in singles. Each of its six matches were close, and in the end, Ryba and Quintal made up for their tough loss on the doubles court by getting the tournament-clinching victories for the Lobos.
"It was a great team effort," assistant coach Roy Canada said. "They're tired. We're tired. It's a battle of the wills."
