Team must rally to win down the line

The UNM men’s tennis team made it look effortless — but in the wrong way.
The Lobos dropped a 6-1 decision to Nebraska on Friday, before falling 5-2 to Fresno State on Sunday at the Linda Estes Tennis Complex. UNM has now lost three matches in a row — its longest losing streak of the year.
Head coach Alan Dils said his team played half-heartedly.

“Bottom line is that we’re not playing our game right now,” he said. “Each match we are getting one or two guys to step up for us, but we’re not getting all six guys playing well at the same time. It’s a matter of focus and pride, and right now, we’re not putting it all out on the court.”

The Lobos came out with vengeance on Friday against the Cornhuskers, capturing the doubles point. But UNM then proceeded to lose five of six singles matches.

Junior Carl Ho, who was playing in the No. 4 spot, bounced Nebraska’s Tom Blackwell 6-3, 6-4 for the Lobos’ lone singles win.

“We had a lot of missed opportunities this weekend,” Dils said. “We had match points in a few matches, and we failed to capitalize. Just like any sport, you’ve got to do the right thing in the clutch times. We were sitting back hoping for the other team to give it to us instead of taking it.”

After dropping the doubles point to Fresno State on Sunday, the Lobos won back-to-back matches to take the 2-1 lead.

Sophomore Jadon Phillips — last week’s Mountain West Conference Player of the Week — downed Bulldog Remi Boutillier 6-1, 6-1 in under an hour for the first Lobo win.

Phillips said that he was determined to even the match.
“My opponent came out slow,” he said. “After losing the first game, I went on a streak and stayed on top of my game. I wanted to be the first one off the court, and I didn’t want to let (Boutillier) back into the match.”

Following Phillips, sophomore Conor Berg captured a 6-0, 7-5 victory against Fresno State’s Siddharth Alapati to put UNM up 2-1. But that’s as close as the Lobos came, dropping the next four matches en route to the 5-2 loss.

“If we want to be successful, all six of us are going to have to remain positive on the court,” Phillips said. “One guy can’t carry the entire team. We need everyone to show up and compete, one through six.”

UNM will put its perfect conference record on the line against San Diego State. The Aztecs enter the contest 2-11 on the season, having faced 11 nationally ranked teams.

“It’s conference time, and you can’t take any team lightly,” Phillips said. “We need to focus on coming out with a lot of energy and getting the job done.”

*Fresno State 5
UNM 2

Nebraska 6
UNM 1

Men’s Tennis vs. San Diego State
Friday, 1 p.m.
Linda Estes Tennis Complex

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