by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's tennis team shut out Brigham Young during the regular season.
Unfortunately for the Lobos, the Cougars cost them an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.
No. 5 seed BYU defeated No. 4 UNM 4-3 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday.
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UNM head coach Alan Dils said BYU was the better team in the tournament.
"We played pretty good," he said in a phone interview. "The team fought hard, and so I'm proud of them. They left everything they had out there on the court, and unfortunately, it wasn't enough today. BYU just played better."
Location may have had something to do with BYU's victory.
UNM beat the Cougars in two matches this year, but both times the geography was different.
Colorado Springs' elevation is 6,035 feet above sea level. Boise, Idaho - where the Lobos beat the Cougars 4-0 on Jan. 20 - is 2,700 feet above sea level, and San Diego - where UNM picked up a 4-3 win March 30 - is just 72 feet above sea level.
Dils said the altitude was a factor in the upset.
"When you go higher up, the air is thinner, and the ball moves a lot quicker," he said. "In a way, altitude makes quite a bit of a difference. Unfortunately for us, it also favors BYU's game because it's a lot tougher to break a guy's serve, and then it goes to a (tie)breaker."
The Lobos started the match by dropping the doubles point. BYU's Chip Hand and Jonathan Sanchez defeated UNM's Johnny Parkes and Chris Parkes 8-5. The Cougars clinched the point with an 8-6 win at the No. 3 position, as BYU's Cassidy Mears and Cale Planck topped UNM's Graeme Kassautzki and Chandler Brass.
The Lobos were 1-4 in doubles against MWC opponents during conference play.
Dils said the doubles struggle continued against BYU on Thursday.
"They've got better doubles than we do," he said. "We tried to throw some new teams together, and I thought we gave them a pretty good scare. It was a lot closer, and we played better than the last time. We definitely had our chances, but they just outplayed us."
With the match tied 3-3 and resting on each team's top player, No. 108 James Ludlow of BYU beat UNM's Max Jones 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 in a third-set tiebreaker to clinch the match for the Cougars. Jones had previously topped Ludlow 6-1, 6-2 on March 30.
Jones was on top of his game, but Ludlow simply had a better day, Dils said.
"Max played a solid match," he said. "I think his opponent played a lot better than the last time that they had met. Day to day, things change and stuff happens. Today, Max just didn't come out on top."
With the loss, UNM's postseason fate is now in the hands of the NCAA selection committee, which announces at-large bids Wednesday.
Dils said there is still a chance the Lobos can make the
postseason.
"It's highly unlikely, but crazier things have happened," he said. "What might help our chances is if BYU wins the tournament. Ironically, if they win, it means that we already have two wins over them. We also have some big wins over other NCAA participants."
UNM is a young team and doesn't have any seniors on this year's squad. Jones, Kamil Pajkowski and Johnny Parkes will return after seasons in which they were named to the All-MWC.
Jones and Pajkowski received all-conference honors as a doubles team, while Jones and Johnny Parkes were named to the singles squad this year.
No matter what happens, the team's future looks good,
Dils said.
"We don't lose anyone to graduation," he said. "We're definitely in good shape for next year. We're going to take this loss, gain the experience and move forward. It's been an improvement over last year, as we moved up almost 20 spots in national rankings. So, it's been an improvement, and we look to keep on improving next season."
Doubles
No. 1 Max Jones/Kamil Pajkowski of UNM played James Ludlow/Dominik Kaufhold of BYU; match did not finish; UNM led 7-6
No. 2 Chip Hand/Jonathan Sanchez of BYU defeated Chris Parkes/Johnny Parkes of UNM 8-5
No. 3 Cassidy Mears/Cale Planck of BYU defeated Graeme Kassautzki/Chandler Brass of UNM 8-6
Singles
No. 1 Ludlow of BYU defeated Jones of UNM 5-7, 7-6, 7-6
No. 2 Johnny Parkes of UNM defeated Hand of BYU 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
No. 3 Kassautzki of UNM defeated Kaufhold of BYU 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
No. 4 Sanchez of BYU defeated Miles Bugby of UNM 6-4, 7-6
No. 5 Chris Parkes of UNM defeated Mears of BYU 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 Planck of BYU defeated Pajkowski of UNM 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
