Air Force Academy
New Mexico
Women's Tennis Downs New Mexico in Tie-Breaker Thriller
4/21/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Albuquerque, N.M. - Air Force posted its first Mountain West win, 4-3, in the season finale against New Mexico, Saturday afternoon at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium, Albuquerque, N.M. The Falcons improve to 14-6 with a 1-4 mark in league action as they prepare for the conference tournament. The Falcons clinched their ninth-straight winning season in the victory.
"We always have a barn burner of a match with New Mexico," said head coach Kim Gidley. "It is a conference team that we battle well with every year."
The Falcons' freshman doubles-team Meredith Jones and Ashleigh Harvey, who have recorded 15 dual wins, were the first to secure a victory with a 6-2 win over Munday and Wong at No. 2. Jones and Harvey are 3-1 in league action. After dropping the match in the No. 3 position, Air Force's TJ Fumagalli and Elizabeth Barnickel, who lead the team with 22 overall doubles wins, clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win over Huang and Quevedo, in the No. 1 position.
New Mexico was quick to respond in singles action, picking up a team point with a win in the No. 6 position. Fumagalli regained the lead with a straight-set win over Wong at No. 1, 6-4, 6-4. Fumagalli is 16-4 in dual action at No. 1 this season, she has 24 overall singles wins.
New Mexico won an equalizing point at the No. 3 position, and followed up for the lead with a win at the No. 5 position. With the clinching point hanging in the balance, Meredith Laskey rose the occasion, handling Danielle Quevedo 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), to score the equalizing point. Laskey is now 11-4 in singles dual action at No. 4.
With everything on the line, Barnickel, who has been playing lights out all season, started her the third set with the match score tied at three. She was down, 2-0, 3-1, but continued to battle back. Barnickel saved a match point to go into the tie-breaker for the third set where she saved two more match points, for a total of three to win, 8-6, in the tie-breaker for the third set.
"Barnickel has been a rock for us all spring long," exclaimed Gidley. "With the best singles record on the team (22-6 overall, 14-2 dual) it was only fitting she would clinch the win for the team. She is so solid and an incredible fighter."
"As a team, we are playing are best doubles of the year going into the conference tournament," Gidley continued. "Our freshmen duo at No. 2 are on fire and did a great job of starting the momentum for the team. All three positions are on their game and doing what the team needs to do to win the doubles point."
"Overall, it was a total team effort," said Gidley. "Fumagalli led from the front, getting off the courts in a straight-set win. Two years ago Laskey lost at No. 6, now she won her position in straight-sets, so it is great to see her improvement. It's fun to win the close ones and I am so proud of this team of what they've accomplished during the regular season."
Air Force will travel to Boise, Idaho, to compete in the Mountain West championship tournament, Thurs., Apr. 26, to Sat., Apr. 28, with matches being held at the Appleton Tennis Center or Julia Davis Park. Thursday's matches are slated to begin at 10 a.m. (MT).
AIR FORCE at NEW MEXICO, Apr. 21
Doubles
1. FUMAGALLI/BARNICKEL (AF) def. HUANG/QUEVEDO (NM) 6-4
2. JONES /HARVEY (AF) def. MUNDAY/WONG (NM) 6-2
3. MURGETT/RICH (NM) def. LASKEY/HATCLIFF (AF) 6-4
Singles
1. Fumagalli, TJ (AF) def. WONG, Diana (NM) 6-4, 6-4
2. Barnickel, Elizabeth (AF) def. CHEN, Yue Lin (NM) 6-0, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7)
3. MURGETT, Bronte (NM) def. Jones, Meredith (AF) 6-4, 7-5
4. Laskey, Meredith (AF) def. QUEVEDO, Danielle (NM) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
5. HUANG, Hsiang-Wen (NM) def. Harvey, Ashleigh (AF) 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
6. MUNDAY, Natasha (NM) def. Hatcliff, Carley (AF) 6-1, 6-1
FINAL: AIR FORCE 4, NEW MEXICO 3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (6,1,3,5,4,2)
Players Mentioned
