The other five matches had ended.
Tied at three, the entire UNM men’s tennis team and Boise State stood opposite each other, cheering on Lobo Jadon Phillips and Boise State’s Filipp Pogostkin as they dueled in the deciding match at the Linda Estes Tennis Center on Thursday. “There are few guys on the team that are as calm and emotionally strong as Jadon is,” said teammate Phillip Anderson during the match. “This position is absolutely perfect.”
Or so it seemed. Phillips stalled, losing 7-6, 5-7, 7-5. The Lobos dropped to 6-11 overall.
Anderson knew how Phillips felt. He had been there before. One year ago, with the Lobos tied at three, Anderson fell in three sets to Boise State’s Blane Shields in similar fashion.
“It is very emotional,” Anderson said. “If you win it, you feel like the hero. You lose it, you feel like you blew it for the team, which obviously isn’t the case.”
But the day wasn’t a complete waste. The Lobos swept the three doubles matches, and an hour later, Conor Berg and Anderson won their singles matches, each in two sets.
Anderson, after taking the first set 6-3, finished his match with a thumping overhead shot, a fist pump and a victory shriek.
Two weeks ago, fans saw the same level of emotion out of Anderson, but it was the wrong kind. During a match, he lost his composure.
“The last time we were playing here, that was sort of a turning point for me,” Anderson said. “I had a real negative thought process, and I talked to some people about it, mostly my parents, and I just switched it around. And ever since then, I have played great, which showed today.”
Anderson said that on-court emotion can be positive if channeled properly.
“It is good to be energetic,” Anderson said. “I think it’ll help you, but you don’t want to use it the wrong way ‘cause it can hurt you. I just started focusing more on my good shots than my bad shots. Just focus on the good things instead of the bad things that I do. I mean, with tennis, you being one person out there.”
Anderson said the pressure of a single-man sport, like tennis, is nearly unbearable, and it is strange what a big difference teammate support makes.
“When I was in high school, I played a lot of basketball,” Anderson said. “I played a lot of football, and it was way easier for me as a teammate. That is why it is good here. We have a team to bring each other up. But playing on the same field sort of, makes it a lot easier because it isn’t as intense. When you are out there by yourself, you kind of drive yourself crazy.”
But even with seven teammates watching from the sidelines, Phillips couldn’t win his match.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
