by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
One thing stood between the UNM men's tennis team and the championship at the New Mexico Balloon Fiesta Invitational - NMSU's Jim Brouleau.
After winning their first five matches Friday, three Lobos lost to Brouleau in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds of the three-day tournament.
Due to NCAA limitations on the number of matches each athlete can play, UNM was represented by juniors Miles Bugby and Derek Lynch and freshman Joe Wood.
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In the finals, Brouleau topped Bugby 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday.
Bugby said he didn't play to the best of his abilities during the championship match.
"I'm really disappointed with my performance," he said. "I hadn't really played my best tennis all tournament, but I managed to get through to the finals. In warm up, I wasn't hitting the ball very well. I came out in the match very sloppy."
Bugby said despite the loss, the weekend had its benefits.
"I got through to the finals and learned a lot through playing a bunch of different types of players," he said. "I was able to work my way to the net a lot, which I've been wanting to do for a while. I'm also keeping my head better during matches."
Bugby defeated two other Aggies on his way to the championship match. In the quarterfinals, Bugby topped Alejandro de Mucha 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. Bugby also beat Eduardo Salas 7-6, 6-4 in the semifinals.
In the other semifinal matchup, Brouleau avoided an all-Lobo final by outlasting Wood 7-6, 6-1.
Head coach Alan Dils said Wood made his home debut in style.
"I haven't seen much of Joe, but I thought he had a very good tournament," he said. "He showed a lot of improvement over the last tournament he played, so I was real pleased."
Wood finished the tournament 3-1, defeating opponents from Northern Colorado and Mountain West Conference foe Air Force.
Wood said he was excited to play at home.
"I had a great tournament," he said. "I played a lot of matches and showed what I could do out there. I was hitting well, and everything went good for me."
Wood and Lynch teamed up for a quarterfinals appearance in doubles before losing to NAU's Chris Arena and Bradley Bristow 8-3.
Dils said Wood and Lynch made a good team.
"Joe and Derek played really well in doubles together," he said. "Last season, we had some trouble getting teams together and picking up the doubles point. We are working on doubles and trying to find teams that click."
The Lobos went a combined 10-4, including 8-3 in singles and 2-1 in doubles.
Dils said he was satisfied with UNM's results.
"I'm pleased with how all three of our athletes performed," he said. "Our goal was to go out there and get some matches under our belts, and they did that. They played a lot of matches and gained a lot of experience this weekend."
Dils said he looks forward to the rest of the season.
"With solid results from these players, it will be interesting to see where everyone stacks up in terms of the lineup," he said. "The good thing is that we have a fair amount of depth on this team, and I am very excited to see what happens this season."
Men's tennis at ITA Mountain Regionals
Oct. 17, all day
Las Vegas
