The Wyoming Cowgirl tennis team moved into a tie for first place with a 4-3 victory over the 54th ranked New Mexico Lobos on Friday afternoon.
The Cowgirls are now 11-5 overall and 3-0 in the MW action while the Lobos move to 12-8 overall and 3-1 in league play. With the victory, head coach Dean Clower is now the all-time winningest head coach in school history with 46 career wins.
“This was a huge team win for us today. By in large the biggest win we’ve had in a while.” head coach Dean Clower said in a Wyoming Athletic press release.
Wyoming started the day strong in doubles action to go up 1-0. Dorottya Jonas and Silviya Zhelyazkova earned a 6-3 victory over Rachana Bhat and Sharon Coone while fellow cowgirls Jessica Parizher and Magdalena Stencel defeated Dominique Dulski and Meredith Hopson, 6-3. Seniors Alma Espinosa and Christa Gecheva fell 6-2 against New Mexico’s Emily Olivier and Natasha Smith.
At the number three position, Jonas defeated Hopson, 6-1, 6-2, followed by Stencel with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Smith to pull ahead 3-0. The Lobos earned the next three points to even up the match. Olivier beat Tokareva, 7-5, 6-2 while Dulski needed three sets, 6-1, 0-6, 6-1, to defeat Parizher.
“In singles, we definitely got after it lines one through six and played hard then played the right way in doubles action” Clower said in a Wyoming Athletics press release.
It came down to the final two matches of the day at the five and six positions. Gecheva went down to the wire with Bhat but fell, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2). Zhelyazkova battled back after being down 5-3 in the first set to win the next four games to win, 7-5, followed by a 6-4 win in the second to lead Wyoming to the 4-3 victory.
Wyoming will close out the regular season next Saturday as it hosts the Colorado State Rams. The match is set for 4 p.m. MT at the UW Indoor Tennis Courts.
