Albuquerque, N.M. –– On the first day of the Mountain-Pacific Invitational, the USF men's tennis team fell to New Mexico in the morning, but came back to beat West Coast Conference foe Santa Clara to pick up its first win since Jan. 16.

In the opening match of the day, USF was unable to get much going against the Lobos and fell 4-0 to the host team. New Mexico took the first doubles match at No. 2, behind Agustus Ge and Rodolfo Jauregui. The Lobos then clinched the doubles match at No. 1, with Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen beating Nils Skajaa and Vasco Valverde 7-6(7-4).

New Mexico continued the momentum in singles, with Van Leijsen taking down Ryan Marker 6-4, 6-3. Up 2-0 in the match, the Lobos pushed it to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles, with Ge beating Maguire. New Mexico wasted no time to clinch the win, as Ricky Hernandez-Tong beat Takemoto 6-3, 6-4 to seal the victory at No. 4. 

The Dons then returned to the courts for a match against Santa Clara with an opportunity to earn a win against its Bay Area rival.

In doubles play, the Dons took it to the Broncos, as the No. 1 Skajaa and Valverde beat Ashot Khacharyan and Andrew Gu, 6-2. The Green and Gold then clinched the doubles point at No. 3 with Christian Brockstedt and Jason Lee earning a 6-2 win over Kamran Khan and Jeffrey Liang. 

The Broncos fought back to take the No. 4 and No. 5 singles matches and take the 2-1 lead. However, USF was able to swing the momentum back in its favor with No. 1 Skajaa beating Khacharyan 6-3, 7-6(4) to even things up. In the No. 2 singles match, Marker dropped the first set to Gu 6-4 but came back to win the second set 7-6 and clinch the match with a 6-4 win in the third set.

Down 3-2, Santa Clara evened up the match with Robert Seby beating Vasco Valverde 6-7(5), 7-6, 6-4. With the match on the line, Woravin Kumthonkittikul rose to the occasion and beat Sebastien Mathieu 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) to lift the Dons to a 4-3 win.

USF will close out the tournament with a match against New Mexico State at 9 a.m. PT on Saturday. 

USF vs. New Mexico
Singles Competition
1. Hayden Sabatka (NM) vs. Nils Skajaa (USF) 6-4, 4-6, 2-0, unfinished 
2. Bart Van Leijsen (NM) def. Ryan Marker (USF) 6-4, 6-3
3. Jorge Escutia (NM) vs. Vasco Valverde (USF) 4-6, 4-1, unfinished
4. Ricky Hernandez-Tong (NM) def. Thomas Takemoto (USF) 6-3, 6-4 
5. Agustus Ge (NM) def. Tynan Maguire (USF) 6-3, 6-2 
6. Sean Baklini (NM) vs. Woravin Kumthonkitti (USF) 6-4, 4-3, unfinished
Singles (2,5,4)