It was the tale of two teams on Valentine’s Day at the UNM Tennis Complex.
Just like the literary classics, there was love, loss and drama on court Sunday for the UNM men’s and women’s tennis teams.
While the No. 50 Lobo men’s team picked up a quick 7-0 (or as it’s known in tennis, love) victory over Abilene Christian, the women’s team faced adversity before falling to No. 61 Colorado 7-0.
Minutes before the women’s match began, the Lobos’ No. 1 singles player, junior Anya Villanueva, injured her back during warm-ups, taking her out of the line-up and forcing everyone on UNM’s roster to play up a position.
Women’s tennis head coach Roy Cañada said he was pleased with his team’s perseverance.
“I am very proud of the way the team competed, especially in light of Anya’s unfortunate injury,” he said. “Everybody had to move up, and they all fought hard. We have some growing to do, but facing this adversity made us play better tennis.”
Stepping up into the No. 1 singles position for the Lobos, junior Ashley Bonner lost 6-0, 6-0 to Colorado’s Monica Milewski.
Bonner admits she was a little nervous moving into the top spot.
“It as a little scary and tough,” she said. “It kind of threw things off and put us off our games, and we had to forfeit two matches.”
Lobo freshman Kristin Eggleston was closest to a victory on the women’s side, fighting to a 6-3, 7-5 loss to Colorado’s Camila Belassi at the No. 3 singles position.
“I was just proud of the way everyone rose to the occasion,” Bonner said. “After doubles, I pulled everyone aside and said, ‘Let’s do this for Anya.’ And I was happy with the way that we continued on, not just giving up.”
On the men’s side, UNM swept all matches and never dropped a set to its opponent.
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At the No. 1 singles position, sophomore Ben Dunbar was a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Abilene Christian’s Eldad Campbell.
And making his debut in a spring dual match, sophomore Matt Neeld cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Abilene Christian’s Karl Bein.
“We had several players step up for us, which was refreshing to see,” men’s tennis head coach Alan Dils said. “We’re a deep team, and starting in the fall, I would not have thought we’d have gotten this good yet, considering how young we are and how much we had to work on. In my mind, we’re miles ahead of where I would have put us at this point in the season.”
The Lobos came out on fire, capturing the doubles point with three wins at the No. 1, 2, and 3 spots.
Dils said the team worked specifically on doubles last week in preparation for Sunday’s match.
“I was happy with the day,” he said. “We worked hard all week on a few things — namely doubles. The guys came out with good energy in doubles play, and it carried over to singles.”
With the win, the men’s team evened its spring record to 3-3, while the women’s team dropped to 1-4 on the year.
Up next, the women host No. 71 Nevada at 5 p.m. on Friday, while the men hit the road to take on in-state rival No. 73 New Mexico State.
“We can only hope that Anya will be back,” Bonner said. “This week in practice we need to come together and work twice as hard for the matches this weekend. If she can’t play, everyone has to step up again. And this time, we’re ready for it.”
BOX
Women’s tennis vs. Nevada
Friday, 5 p.m.
UNM Tennis Complex
