April 26, 2014
FRESNO, Calif. -
The San Diego State women's tennis team dropped a 4-2 decision to New Mexico in the semifinals of the Mountain West Championships. Earlier Saturday, the Aztecs defeated San Jose State to advance to the semifinal against the Lobos.
Competition began with doubles action between the third-seeded Aztecs and No. 2 UNM. First doubles would finish first with Laura Antonaña Iriarte and Kristin Buth downing Natasha Smith and Dominique Dulski, 8-3. On court No. 3, Tami Nguyen and Isabelle Hoorn teamed up to fight for the doubles point against Rachana Bhat and Susan Baklini. The Lobos duo eventually came away with the decision and doubles point, 8-7 (7). In first doubles, Dora Somoracz and Hailey Johnson were topped by Misa Bezdickova and Lizette Blankers, 8-6.
As singles play got underway, Smith put New Mexico up 2-0 as she got past Kennedy Davis in the fourth position, 6-4, 6-2. In fifth singles, Dulski defeated Somoracz to extend the Lobos lead, 6-2, 6-4. In the third position, Nguyen put the Aztecs on the board as she dismissed Meredith Hopson, 6-2, 7-5. Second singles also saw a SDSU victory as Buth downed Blankers, 7-5, 6-1. The deciding match would come in sixth singles as Hoorn fell to Bhat, 6-4, 6-2.
After coming just short of the championship match, the Aztecs now await word if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA women's tennis selection show is set for Tuesday, April 29 at 2:30 pm on NCAA.com
Complete stats and coverage from this weekend's event can be found at the Mountain West Championship page.