The New Mexico women’s tennis team earned a split again on the road gutting out a victory over North Texas Friday and taking UT Arlington the distance on Saturday.
The Lobos traveled to North Texas to start the last leg of its road trip in Denton, Texas. As rain swept through the area, the match was forced to be moved to a different venue.
The Lobos struck first by recording consecutive victories in doubles play to earn the lone point. Sharon Coone and Ludivine Burguiere started things by winning their match, 6-2, and Emily Olivier and Dominique Dulski secured the point by defeating Maria Kononova and Tamuna Kutubidze 6-4.
New Mexico extended its lead to 2-0 when Burguiere topped Agustina Valenzuela in a straight set victory, 6-4, 6-2.
The lead did not hold as the Lobos lost three consecutive singles matches. Mean Green notched a pair of straight set victories and followed it with Kutubidze’s three set victory over Olivier, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to go ahead of the Lobos 3-2.
Rachana Bhat responded by wrapping up her match, topping Minying Liang, 6-1, 6-3 to pull the teams even again.
The final match concluded with an epic three set battle between Coone and Alexis Thoma. Coone emerged victorious, winning her match, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in a battle that lasted about two hours.
The win gave New Mexico a 4-3 victory over North Texas, improving its record to 7-5 before heading south to take on UT Arlington.
UT Arlington has played lights out at home, going undefeated on the season at the UTA Tennis Center. The team applied early pressure taking the doubles match in convincing fashion when the 70th ranked doubles pair of Elizabeth Thoms and Angeles de los Rio took out Olivier and Dulksi, 6-1.
Bhat and Andrea Leblanc responded to take the second doubles contest, but Coone and Ruth Copas fell in the deciding match, 4-6.
UT Arlington continued to apply pressure by securing the first two singles matches in straight sets as well, putting itself within one point of a team victory with four matches still to play.
The Lobos won the first set in all four remaining matches and Burgiere got the team on the board with a straight set victory.
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Leblanc pulled the team within 3-2 in the team score, besting Thoms in a three set affair, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Then teammate Coone completed her match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2 to tie the score at three points each.
Despite the effort, playing from behind, especially on the road to a team that has been so successful at defending their home court proved to be too much for New Mexico to overcome.
Bhat was unable to close out her match against Valeria Lopez after taking the first set, falling, 7-6, 6-1, 6-4.
UT Arlington’s 4-3 win boosts the Mustangs record to a perfect 8-0 at home this season, and extends its home winning streak to 19 consecutive matches overall.
For the Lobos, it was the fourth consecutive match in which the score was decided by a single point, and second straight split on the road. New Mexico stays a game above .500 at 7-6 on the season.
The team will return home, where it is also undefeated, to open conference play against Colorado State on April 1 at 7:00 p.m. and Wyoming at 3:00 p.m. on April 3.
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.
