The New Mexico men’s tennis team extended its winning streak to five matches after an epic battle against BYU Friday and after besting Air Force twice in a doubleheader on Saturday.
Head coach Bart Scott’s prediction came to fruition Friday when New Mexico and BYU engaged in a duel that lasted more than three hours. The tightly contested match saw several lead changes throughout the night.
“It seemed like a prize fight, didn’t it?” Scott said. “When BYU and New Mexico get together, it’s always a heated and intense battle, and it was again today.”
New Mexico got off to a hot start winning two of the three doubles matches to secure the doubles point. Rodolfo Jauregui and Augustus Ge clinched it by defeating Keaton Cullimore and Andrey Goryachkov, 7-5.
BYU answered right back by taking the first singles match to tie the schools at 1 point each. But Ricky Hernandez-Tong, a freshman who has enjoyed a lot of early success, dispatched his opponent in straight sets to put the Lobos back on top, 2-1.
However, BYU responded again by grabbing two straight singles victories. John Pearce bested Sean Baklini and Cullimore avoided a third set when he closed out UNM’s Bart Van Leijsen, 6-4, 7-5 to put the Cougars within one point of victory.
Ge was down in his first set 3-5, but was able to earn two huge breaks to take the set. He rode that momentum into the second set and was able to close out his opponent, 7-5, 6-4.
That set the stage for the thrilling conclusion between Jorge Escutia and Goryachkov. A raucous crowd surrounded the court and began chants of “Everyone’s a Lobo.”
Goryachkov blew a big lead before taking the second set to even things up and force a third set. In the third, Escutia broke his opponent’s serve twice to take a commanding 5-1 lead, but then he had difficulty closing and lost three consecutive games.
Up 5-4, Escutia uncorked some huge first serves to dictate the points and finally close the door, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
“We have a lot of faith in him; he’s got a lot of experience in that situation,” Ge said. “Jorge is an awesome player.”
Scott said Escutia will receive a lot of the credit, but emphasized that it was only one of four points. He said that they are all important regardless of when the point is scored.
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Winning the doubles point proved to be crucial and Escutia’s match wouldn’t have decided things without Ge and the other teammates fighting for each other to earn the other points along the way.
Scott said that BYU has a lot of talent and a great coach. He said that for the young team to come through that test with a win says a lot about the group. The win handed BYU its second loss on the season, which dropped them to 11-2. The 4-3 win also improved New Mexico’s record to 6-10, with a double-header against Air Force on Saturday to follow.
In the early meeting against Air Force, Hayden Sabatka and Jauregui teamed up as the 39th ranked doubles tandem notched a win. But Air Force took the other doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead.
“Give credit to Air Force, they played a really good point,” Scott said. “We weren’t as sharp as we could’ve been, but Air Force could’ve had a lot to do with that.”
Scott said that the team understood the severity of the situation after losing the doubles point. He said that the team could not afford to have any lackluster performances in singles and that they came out strong.
Jauregui and Escutia both won in straight sets to put the Lobos back on top 2-1. The head coach said the quick start by Jauregui was nice to see.
“Rodolfo getting off quickly was huge for us,” Scott said. “It was great to see him get in there and play because he’d really been struggling in singles and this may be just what the doctor ordered.”
Sabatka defeated Jack McCullers in a pair of thrilling tiebreakers. He won, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6). Moments later, Hernandez-Tong clinched the team victory by closing out another tiebreaker over Andrew Parks, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).
The schools elected to finish the remaining matches. The Lobos were not able to close out those tie-breakers, but still grabbed the team victory 4-3.
“Early in the match my forehand was working really well to his backhand,” Hernandez-Tong said. “As the match went on he got used to it and the match got a little tighter. I just stayed calm and played a good tiebreaker.”
The evening session technically marked the Lobos conference home opener. The Lobos again fell in doubles play, but were able to pull together to perform well in singles play again.
New Mexico won four consecutive singles matches to put the match away, with Hernandez-Tong again notching the clinching point by winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Scott said that a lot of credit should go to Ryan Dupre, the team’s strength and conditioning coach. The team played three matches in just over 24 hours, each of which lasted about three hours.
“We play a lot of doubleheaders and we train at altitude and fitness is a huge priority for us,” Scott said. “It is a tough, physical sport to play.”
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.
