New Mexico duo Rodolfo Jauregui and Augustus Ge walked away winners in doubles competition at the Balloon Fiesta Invitational on Sunday.
The Lobos performed well in individual competition as well, with each player reaching the final or consolation final in his respective draw.
Jauregui and Ge defeated the University of Arizona’s doubles team of Will Adkisson and Trevor James in the one set final, 8-4.
“We played solid,” Ge said. “We stuck to the basics, good first serves, returns and we played well from the baseline.”
Ge said that he thinks they can perform even better. He said they had a comfortable lead and let their opponent get back into the match.
After achieving the victory, both players still had more work ahead. Ge returned to competition right away to battle Christofer Gonclaves from New Mexico State University in the finals of his draw. Ge fought hard, but ended up losing, 6-2, 6-3.
Jauregui reached the consolation final in his draw. He built a 3-1 lead against his New Mexico State opponent, Strahinja Trecakov, but could not maintain the momentum, dropping the match 6-3, 6-2.
Sean Baklini also played his way into the final of his draw as well, playing New Mexico State’s Stijn DeHaan. After falling behind early, Baklini fought his way back to tie the first set at 4-4 and held a 4-3 lead in the second set. DeHaan proved to be too much though, winning both sets 6-4.
“I had a game plan; I just wasn’t able to execute it, and that really kind of determined it,” Baklini said. “My returns weren’t great.”
Redshirt freshman Michael Tran also made it to his draw’s consolation final. He competed against University of Denver’s Zach Fryer. Fryer was victorious 7-5, 6-0.
Assistant coach Ben Dunbar said he hoped to see more progress and improvement from tournament in Tulsa. He said he felt they could’ve down more this weekend, but there are plenty of positives to be taken from the event.
“I told them we’ve probably have to do a better job at regionals, but I’m confident that they are going to rise to the challenge,” Dunbar said. “ Although we didn’t have the results that we wanted to have, this will only propel us and make us work even harder.”
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Dunbar said these tournaments during the fall are all about building toward spring success. He said there are a lot of lessons to be learned from this weekend and he is looking forward to seeing the team respond when the return to competition.
Dunbar said the players will enjoy a couple of days off and then started preparing for the USTA/ITA regionals. He said he hopes plenty of people will come out to watch because the tournament will feature all of the schools throughout the region. Albuquerque is hosting the event which begins October 21st and continues through the weekend.
Robert Maler is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler
