The New Mexico men’s tennis team suffered its first home loss of the season after battling for three and a half hours against Utah State on Friday, letting a 3-1 lead slip away.
Head coach Bart Scott said every team in the Mountain West is capable of winning on any given day.
He said Utah State is a feisty group that gets after their opponent, with a roster full of good players that compete very hard. Scott said it was just a tough, hard-nosed conference match against two really good teams.
“We respect all the teams we play, especially in our league,” Scott said. “You have to be mentally and physically prepared if you want a chance to win.”
The Lobos jumped out to an early lead, winning the first two doubles matches to earn the point to go up 1-0.
Scott said he thought the doubles play was a bright spot. The team was calm, composed and executing very well. The Lobos were also ahead in the third match, which went unfinished.
Things tightened up significantly in singles play. Each school won three first sets in the matches and it appeared like things were shaping up to go down to the wire.
Utah State answered by striking first in singles. Jaime Barajas took down Hayden Sabatka, 6-3, 6-2 to even the score 1-1.
The Lobos responded to win the next two matches. Augustus Ge earned a straight set victory, and Ricky Hernandez-Tong closed out an intense match against Samuel Serrano, 6-2, 6-4.
“I won the first set really comfortably, and then he started to change his game a bit,” Hernandez-Tong said. “He went up 4-3 (in the second set), but I was lucky to play some good tennis and get some big points to win in the end.”
The win by Hernandez-Tong put the Lobos up 3-1, with three matches remaining to earn the final point needed to secure the team win.
Utah State won the next match to pull within a point, but was trailing after losing the first set in its match versus Jorge Escutia. Escutia, who had been clutch this season with a team victory in the balance, came from behind in the second set to force a tiebreaker and a chance to be the hero again.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
However, the normally reliable Escutia lost the tiebreaker and couldn’t seem to get on track in the final set. After taking the first match 6-4, he fell to Jonas Maier in the match 7-6 and the final 3-7 which tied the team score 3-3.
The Lobos’ chances still looked promising as Bart Van Leijsen fought back after losing his first set in a tiebreaker. He took the second set to force a final and decisive set to determine the winner.
Van Leijsen missed out on three early break point opportunities as the match stayed on serve. Utah State’s Jack Swindells then broke Van Leijsen, who rarely gives up a game on his serve, twice in a row to end the match.
Scott said he thought if Van Leijsen had been able to get one of those early breaks, the outcome might have been different. But the head coach said a lot of credit has to go to Utah State for making the plays they needed to take the victory.
The loss is New Mexico’s first at home this season. Hernandez-Tong said the team has experienced similar moments earlier in the year and believes the team is equipped to bounce right back.
“We just need to pull together as a team; we’ve had these moments already this season where we’ve lost tight matches,” Hernandez-Tong said. “We can beat any team in this league. The tennis is there—if we all bring it and the level is there, we can win.”
The Aggies 4-3 victory avenged a loss the Lobos dealt them earlier in the season in the Mountain-Pacific Invitational finals. Aside from that loss, Utah State has won 10 of its last 11 to improve to 17-6 and snag a number 58 USTA/ITA national ranking.
The loss drops the Lobos to 13-12 on the season and 1-2 in conference play. They will try to rebound on Sunday in another conference matchup against Boise State. The match is scheduled for noon at the McKinnon Family Tennis Center.
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.
