Despite winning the regular-season title, New Mexico faltered against the Broncos 4-1 on Saturday afternoon in the conference tourney semifinals. Boise State went on to win the Mountain West title with a 4-3 victory over Nevada on Sunday. The Broncos have now won the Mountain West tournament for four straight seasons.
“We knew the danger; we know how good Boise is,” Lobo head coach Bart Scott said on Saturday. “We know they turn it on in the conference tournament and we were prepared for it. We just didn’t play our best, and Boise had something to do with that.”
In his first year as head coach, Scott said his squad enjoys playing the Broncos despite Boise State having dominated UNM in the past.
“I don’t even know if you can call it a rivalry, really,” Scott said. “In the history it has been, but the past few years they have really had our number.”
Senior player Samir Iftikhar, the only UNM player to take a singles point against Boise State, said the friction between the two teams brings some heightened stress from New Mexico’s standpoint.
“There’s definitely some extra tension when we play them because we haven’t beaten them that much in the past few years,” Iftikhar said. “ ... Boise State has always been a hot-button issue for us.”
UNM took the doubles point, giving the Lobos the momentum heading into singles play. However, Boise State’s senior leader Garrett Patton took court one in two sets by scores of 6-3 and 6-2 over sophomore Hayden Sabatka. Bronco head coach Greg Patton, Garrett Patton’s father, said he counts on his son’s ability to win his singles match.
“The guy who keeps us in every game is G-man, it’s Garrett (Patton),” Greg Patton said. “He wins all of is singles matches. Even if we lose at doubles, we know the score is 1-1.”
Following Garrett Patton’s dominating performance over Sabatka, the senior captain ran up and down each court, cheering his team on. Iftikhar said Boise’s energy following his victory carried the Broncos through the remainder of the dual.
“What they can control is their energy,” Iftikhar said. “They did that better than us.”
Boise State proceeded to take courts four and five, putting UNM in a hole to win the remaining three courts. Iftikhar did his part by taking court two over BSU’s Thomas Tenreiro.
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Scott made a late scratch to put redshirt sophomore Rodolfo Juaregui on court six rather than the original starter, freshman Augustus Ge. Scott said he had a good feeling about Juaregui, who had started for UNM earlier in the season, but said the redshirt sophomore had taken a confidence hit after losing close matches earlier in the year.
After taking the first set, Juaregui couldn’t battle back in the final two sets of the match, dropping the match and the dual to Abe Hewko.
“We lost to them earlier this year, so that gave us more incentive to come out and beat them,” Hewko said. “I mean, we just wanted it more, and we came out and fought and won.”
Greg Patton said his team came out of the gates in doubles play looking timid. He said he has preached to his squad all year about relying on the skills each individual has acquired.
“In this sport, fear becomes a big factor — fear, fear of losing,” he said. “That’s the one thing I’m saying: we’re going to go out like the Spartans ... We’re going to go out and fight for the honor of each other, and that’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on twitter @Liam_CE.
