by Andre van der Merwe
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's tennis team picked up its third consecutive win Saturday afternoon by battering Northern Arizona University 7-0.
The Lobos (8-4) continued their strong team play against the Lumberjacks (3-9), earning the doubles point by winning all three doubles matches. Sophomores Max Jones and Kamil Pajkowski, ranked 40th in the nation, defeated Brian Grooms and Jeff Morys in 11 games, ending the match 8-3. The win puts Jones and Pajkowski at 10-1 for the season in doubles matches.
Pajkowski said he was confident from the start of the match.
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"I thought we controlled play right from the beginning, even in doubles," Pajkowski said. "They were struggling holding a serve, and we were really comfortable. That made a big difference."
In the No. 2 doubles spot, freshmen Miles Bugby and Johnny Parkes beat out Gareth Ducray and Henrik Lilja of NAU 8-4 to secure the doubles point. Bugby was nursing a hand injury, yet played on and struggled returning the ball during the match. After encouragement from UNM head coach Alan Dils, Bugby was able to bring his swing back to put the final two games away and give himself and Parkes the win.
Bugby said the injury affected his confidence for part of the game, but he was able to pull it together.
"I've been struggling a bit," he said. "I mean my wrist is still sore after my injury. I started to put a few points together, and got a bit more confident. I just wasn't too confident to start with having to find a way to play with my wrist being sore."
In the third and final doubles match, UNM's senior Eric Conklin and freshman Graeme Kassautzki took on NAU's Kyle Thieme and Casey Ross. Conklin and Kassautzki completed the match 8-6.
UNM carried the momentum into singles play where each Lobo ended his match in two sets. First up in the No. 1 singles spot was Parkes, who defeated Ducray 6-3, 6-2.
Dils said Parkes has elevated his game as of late, which is why he replaced Jones at the No. 1 spot.
"Johnny has played well and Max struggled just a little bit," Dils said. "Johnny is just getting better more than anything else, more so than Max coming down."
Next up in the No. 2 singles spot for UNM was Jones who also handed his opponent, Morys of NAU, a 6-3, 6-2 loss.
In the No. 3 match, Kassautzki won his match 6-3, 6-2 against NAU's Lilja to seal the Lobo victory against NAU.
Play continued, however, and NAU's Grooms was defeated 6-3, 6-2 by Pajkowski. Freshman Chandler Brass - 5-6 in singles - won his match in two sets taking the 6-1, 6-2 win over NAU's Christian Tenev.
Conklin was the only Lobo who did not end his match in two sets. Conklin took the first set 6-1, before NAU's Casey Ross came back to win the second set 6-4. However, Conklin answered in the third set, 6-0, to complete UNM's 7-0 sweep of NAU.
