The UNM men's tennis team is the 2009 Mountain West Conference champion.
Senior Miles Bugby clinched the win in a third-set tiebreaker at the No. 3 singles position to give the No. 2 seeded Lobos a 4-3 win over top-seeded Texas Christian University on Sunday at the Jerry Cline Tennis Center.
Head coach Alan Dils said the Lobos won in stirring fashion.
"You can't ask for anything more than that - to have the match come down to a tiebreaker in the third set on our home courts with our home crowd, revenging a loss we had to TCU last year on their home courts. It is exciting," he said.
Bugby handed TCU's Kriegler Brink a 6-7, 6-2, 7-6 loss, sweeping the third set tiebreaker 7-0.
Last year's MWC Championship also depended on the No. 3 singles match, but Brink picked up the three-set win to give TCU the 4-3 edge in 2008.
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"We have been there before, so I felt good," Bugby said. "The big difference was we had our home crowd behind us, which really pulled us through. Our team is also really close and gets along well, and that is key for team success."
UNM finishes the regular season 20-5 for the Lobos' second-straight 20-win season. With the win, UNM also earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos will make their 11th NCAA appearance and first since 2004.
"It's great to be back in the NCAAs," senior Graeme Kassautzki said. "It's been our goal throughout my four years here, and now we finally get the opportunity to play in the tournament. I can't think of a better way to end my collegiate career than at the NCAA Tournament."
TCU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a win in doubles. However, freshman Carl Ho tied the match at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Casey Powers at the No. 6 position.
Ho said the wind made the victory more challenging.
"The wind was pretty intense," he said. "On one side of the court, the balls would fly long, and on the other, they would barely get over the net. It was hard to find any kind of rhythm out there. But I think we did a good job of handling the wind."
TCU's Christopher Price countered with a 6-2, 6-2 win over UNM's Phil Anderson at the No. 5 position to give the Horned Frogs a 2-1 advantage. But Kassautzki evened the match at 2-2 with a 7-5, 6-2 upset over Emmanuel Brink at the No. 2 spot.
"Everyone stepped up when they needed to," senior Johnny Parkes said. "I'm really proud of us seniors, winning the top three singles matches. But the win was a total team effort."
Freshman Ben Dunbar fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to TCU's Zach Nichols at the No. 4 position. But Parkes held on for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Slah Mbarek to set the stage for Bugby's match-clinching win.
Dils said Lobo fans were instrumental in the win.
"I think there were a number of times when the fans' cheering helped rally us back into some matches," he said. "It was great to see the community support Lobo tennis like it did. The last time we won the conference tournament was 2004 when we hosted it. So, hopefully we can make this a tradition."
The Lobos will find out their postseason fate on Tuesday as the NCAA selection show will air at 3:20 p.m. on ESPN. The first and second rounds will be May 8-9.
Parkes said the team's chemistry will carry UNM into the NCAA Tournament.
"We may not be related by blood, but we are certainly brothers," he said. "Our team is very close, and I'm not sure every team playing in the NCAAs can say that."
