Lobos Come Back from the Brink to Win 4-3 over Utah State
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — One thing UNM has always been able to count on when playing at home is Arda Azkara winning his singles match at No. 1. He entered today’s match with No. 67 Utah State 22-0 at No. 1 at home. A funny thing happened on the way to win No. 23 … he faced two match points, which weren’t just for his match, but for the entire match with Utah State. But Azkara turned into the Pony Express in an 1800s snowstorm … he delivered the goods when it all looked bleak.
Azkara somehow dug deep, found another gear, fought off two match points at 6-4 and 6-5, and won a third set tiebreaker, setting the stage for a thrilling clinching win by Rafael Abdulsalam as New Mexico opened defense of its 2023 Mountain West regular season title with a heart-stopping 4-3 come-from-behind win over No. 67 Utah State. The win moved UNM to 10-7 and 1-0 in the league on the season while the Aggies dropped to 13-4 overall and 0-1 in the league.
It felt early that the only thing going right for UNM was Alex Maggs, who picked up UNM’s first, and seemingly only point with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) win at No. 6 singles over Phillip Rein.
That was UNM’s only win in the early going as UNM was swept in doubles and both Arthur Bellegy and Aram Noroozian lost opening set tiebreakers and then had their matches get away from them. Bellegy lost 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 and Noroozian lost a similar 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 match.
That made it 3-1, and the Lobos would need to win all three remaining third sets.
They did.
The first, and the one match without the drama was Georgio Samaha, who took down Nuno Pinheiro 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. That made it 3-2 with Azkara locked in a battle at No. 1 with Bodin Zarkovic.
Azkara fell behind 3-1 but after serving for 3-2, got the break back that he needed for a 3-3 tie. Both players held serve until 6-6, although Azkara needed a deuce-point win at 4-4 to keep it there.
In the tiebreak, Azkara served first and aced Zarkovic, but Bodin took four of the next five points and lad 4-2 at the break. Down 5-4, Arda couldn’t do anything with a second serve, hitting it well long nd giving Utah State two shots at the match, and Zarkovic two shots at ending a winning streak that has spanned three seasons.
Down 6-4, Azkara and Zarkovic had a long rally, but Azkara hit one deep to the backhand and on the return, he slammed it home down the line to save one match point.
Down 6-5, Azkara looked to have an ace, but it was called deep. Unfazed and serving facing match point, he got the ace on his second serve and the two players switched sides at 6-6.
After the changeover, Azkara again aced Zarkovic, this time without even a tip on the return, and suddenly for the first time Azkara had match point and finally, the tennis gods shined down on Azkara.
Zarkovic’s serve was a laser and Azkara just did get it back over the net. Zarkovic raced in, and Azkara guessed a side and guessed wrong. However, Zarkovic’s shot into the open court ticked the top of the net and spun long, giving Azkara 23 straight wins, but more importantly, giving UNM life.
That life was transferred to Abdulsalam, who was down 3-2 but evened his match on a deuce point as Mohammad Alkotop hit long. Abdulsalam then went up 5-3 and had match point at deuce but hit into the net, and Alkotop eventually tied it.
Rafa won his serve to go up 6-5, and then clinched the match with a love-set break of serve that ended on back-to-back double faults, setting off an admitted wild celebration that masked a rather remarkable Ted Lasso-type dance from Abdulsalam.
The win sets up UNM to go on the road to face UNLV on Saturday at 2 p.m. Mountain Time.
NOTES: Azkara moved to 12-1 in the spring … Maggs is now 7-4 at No. 6 singles … Samaha’s win was his team-best 18th.