Lobos tennis' Rafael Abdulsalam scored the upset over No. 9 Boise State’s Kyryll Kryvchunin in straight sets to advance to the ITA Mountain Regionals.
Abdulsalam was the only Lobo to move into the next round with an emphatic 6-3, 6-1 drubbing, becoming just one of 13 seeded players to make it to the Round of 16.
Abdulsalam and Arda Azkara advanced to the Round of 32 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mountain Regionals singles bracket in Provo, Utah with wins over Bo Han Li of Weber State, 6-2, 6-2 Lawrence Sciglitano of Boise State, 6-1, 7-5, respectively. Overall, Lobos tennis players went 4-5 in singles and 2-0 in doubles during the opening day, according to a UNM release.
Abdulsalam takes on No. 9 seed Kyryll Kryvhun of Boise State on Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. Azkara challenges Weber State's unseeded Tristan Sarap Wednesday at 12:45 p.m.
The Lobos compiled a 4-1 record versus unseeded players, including wins by a pair of freshmen, Joel Pierleoni and Georgio Samaha, who defeated foes from Montana State in the Round of 128. Pierleoni advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Daan van Dijk, while Samaha downed Nejc Sitar, 6-2, 6-4. Jan Pucalka suffered the Lobos only unseeded loss in Round of 128, beaten in a close match by Elyes Marouani of Weber State, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Pierleoni and Samaha were eliminated in the Round of 64. Pierleoni lost to 30th seeded Daniel Krulig of Denver, 7-5, 6-3, while Samaha fell to 31st seed Robert Baylon of Air Force.
Abdulsalam teamed in doubles with Nicolas Preto and defeated Brigham Andrus and Alex Lin of BYU, 8-7, (8-5). Pucalka and Alex Maggs beat Javier Ruiz Medina and Felipe Acosta of Utah State, 8-7 (8-4).
All three UNM pairings, including the 10th-seeded team of Pierleoni and Azkara, are in action on Wednesday.