The New Mexico women’s tennis team got off to a decent start and performed well, although one of its players had to retire from a match.
UNM split in its first action this season at the Midland Racquet Club Invitational.
Senior Andrea Leblanc lost in singles play to Texas-Arlington’s Astrid Gehre, 7-6, 6-1 and Diana Wong lost to Dasha Sapogova of Penn State in three sets, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Leblanc and Wong had some tough luck in the subsequent consolation matches.
Wong appeared to have momentum after taking the first set, but surrendered the second set and fell in a tiebreaker to Texas Christian’s Madison Tedford, 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6).
Leblanc was unable to complete her consolation match against Nebraska’s M’Balia Bangoura. She was trailing 5-1 in the first set at the time.
Cassie Chung and Rachana Bhat found their way into the win column, both earning straight set victories in singles play.
Chung, a freshman, also picked up her first victory as a Lobo by defeating Texas-Arlington’s Carla Cerdan Vives, 6-4, 6-0.
Chung could not advance past the round of 32, however. She fell to the third seed, Texas Tech’s Katelyn Walker, 6-3, 6-1.
Bhat began her singles play with a straight set victory over North Texas player Alexandra Heczey 6-1, 6-3.
She continued her strong play by besting the second seeded Olaya Garrido-Rivas of TCU. After dropping the first set, she went on to take the next two and win in a tiebreaker, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6.
The run ended in the round of 16, when Abilene Christian’s Erin Walker got by Bhat, 6-2, 6-4.
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Bhat said her game felt pretty good, and she thought the newcomers on the team played really well too.
“I think they did well,” Bhat said in a release. “It’s tough playing your first college tournament, and there was really good competition in Midland.”
Leblanc retiring from the singles match also forced her and Bhat to withdraw from doubles competition.
The freshman tandem of Chung and Wong competed in doubles, but were unable to make it out of the first round. They lost a close match in another tiebreaker, 8-7, to Penn State’s Jacqueline Zuhse and Bennett Dunn.
Texas Tech’s Sabrina Federici took down Texas Arlington’s Angeles de los Rios to win the singles final.
Meanwhile, Whitney Williams and Erin Walker of TCU came from behind in a thrilling tiebreaker to take home the doubles crown.
Up next the Lobos will split the roster and compete in a pair of tournaments.
Half the team is expected to compete in the Colorado Invitational, while the remaining players will head south to play in the New Mexico State Invitational.
Both tournaments are three-day events that are set to begin on Saturday.
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.
