The UNM men’s tennis team, playing perhaps its best tennis of the season, finished Saturday as the last team standing in the Mountain-Pacific Invitational on Saturday.
The Lobos knifed through the competition, surrendering just one total point against the competition over the two day event, although many of the matches were tightly contested.
New Mexico opened Friday as the No. 2 seed, taking on San Francisco in a rematch of last year’s championship round.
The doubles pairing of Augustus Ge and Rodolfo Jauregui notched an early victory and teammates Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen got by Nils Skajaa and Vasko Valverde in a tiebreaker to earn the double point, 7-6 (7-4).
Van Leijsen continued to set the tone for the match by winning his singles match in straight sets over Ryan Marker, 6-4, 6-3. He was the first of three Lobos to accomplish the task en route to a 4-0 team victory which placed them in the semifinal round.
In Friday’s second match, New Mexico and Grand Canyon started with singles competition, which features six players from each team facing off simultaneously.
Sabatka recorded the first point by topping Mirch Maroscher, 7-5, 6-0. Jorge Escutia followed that with a straight set victory of his own, 6-3, 6-1. Van Leijsen and Ge won the next two matches to complete another sweep, 4-0, which rendered doubles competition unnecessary.
Utah State upset top seeded Pacific to advance to the championship round against New Mexico on Saturday. Escutia paired with Ricky Hernandez-Tong to defeat Andrew Nakjima and Jaime Barajas, 6-2 to take the first doubles match.
The Lobos trailed late in both of the other matches, but fought back to take the lead. Ge and Jauregui earned the point by winning their match, 7-5. Sabatka and Van Leijsen seemed to be in control of their match with a large lead in the tiebreaker as well, but the match remained unfinished.
Sabatka scored quickly in singles play, putting the Lobos up 2-0 and halfway to victory, by defeating Jaime Barajas, 6-3, 6-2.
Van Leijsen won a pivotal match by completing an impressive comeback after trailing 1-3 in the first set. He responded to win the set and rode the momentum to a straight set victory, 6-4, 6-4.
“I didn’t panic when I lost my service game. I broke him right back and my service games put some pressure on his return game,” Van Leijsen said. “(The team) has got a couple of good matches in and everything is starting to roll in a good direction.”
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The only blemish of the tournament came when Escutia fell at the number three position. His opponent, Jack Swindells, made consistent returns on his way to dispatching Escutia, 6-2, 6-2.
In a match that went unfinished, Jauregui overcame a 1-4 deficit to come all the way back in a thrilling tiebreaker to take the first set, 7-6 (7-4). Scott said he thinks Jauregui’s gritty play helped out Ge, who was playing on the next court, because it took a lot of pressure off his shoulders.
Ge, after winning the first set convincingly and taking a huge lead in the second, allowed his opponent to tie the score 5-5. In the midst of Jauregui’s comeback, Ge was able to secure the final two games to get by Samuel Serrano, 6-1, 7-5.
“It feels good and we’re very pleased and honored to be the champions of this tournament. But that’s not the trophy that we’re after.”
The team has come a long way since starting the season with a 3-10 mark after playing its first 13 matches on the road.
Head coach Bart Scott said the rough start was similar to one of the years he experienced as a player. He said the team rebounded to play outstanding tennis down the stretch, and not only salvaged the season, but culminated in bringing home New Mexico’s first ever Mountain West conference title in 2000.
He said he knew at the time that this team had a lot of fight in it and the early season woes could serve as the catalyst for a strong finish. The head coach said the one thing the team lacked was confidence. He said he asked the players to find confidence in everything they did in life, no matter how mundane it may seem.
“I remember sitting in the dark at Penn when the lights shut off during our post match meeting and talking about that,” Scott said. “Literally we were looking for confidence anywhere we could find it.”
After 21 matches, the Lobos have climbed back onto the right side of .500 for the first time since the team was 1-0. New Mexico now has an 11-10 record on the season, sporting an eight match winning streak that remains intact.
Scott said now the team is playing its best tennis of the season so far and with a lot of confidence. He said getting wins over Utah and BYU and backing it up with this performance are all steps in the right direction, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
The team will stay home for one more match before closing the month on the road. New Mexico hosts Northern Arizona on Monday at 5:00 p.m. The event is scheduled to take place at the McKinnon Family Tennis Center, but weather may cause play to be moved across the street to Linda Estes Tennis Center, which is an indoor venue.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, tennis, and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
