By Vincent Rupena – Spear Reporter
SJSU senior Carolina Millan celebrates after winning a singles match against UNLV | Photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
San Jose State tennis upset top-seeded New Mexico 4-2 in the second round of the Mountain West Championship. The Spartans will advance to the semifinal where they are set to face off against four-seeded UNLV.
The matchup presented SJSU with an opportunity for revenge. The Spartans lost two times against the Lobos this season. Both of the prior matches had a final score of 4-3.
“I’m very happy right now, just letting it soak in,” SJSU head coach Chad Skorupka said after the match.
SJSU entered a deficit early in the match. The Spartans lost the doubles point after senior Irena Muradyan and freshman Cheuk Ying Shek lost their match 6-4. Before Muradyan and Ying Shek’s defeat, freshman Duru Durgun and senior Rozalina Youseva were forced into a retirement loss.
Heading into singles down 1-0, SJSU rallied to dominate most of the singles. Of the four SJSU players to win their singles match, three achieved victory in two sets.
SJSU leaned on both its youth and its experience to secure victory as the match was coming to a close.
The match was tied 2-2 with Ying Shek and senior Carolina Millan finishing up their respective matches. Both players needed to win in order for SJSU to proceed to the next round of the Championship.
Ying Shek displayed incredible poise as the first set went into a tiebreaker resulting in her winning 7-6 (7-3). Ying Shek showed no wavering in the second set, winning 6-3.
All the pressure then rested on Millan. She lost the first set of the match 6-3, but was able to rally in the second finishing 6-4. In the third and final set, she dominated her opponent 6-1.
Millan was recently selected as a Mountain West All-Conference singles player. Her performance on Thursday showed why she deservingly received that honor.
This win marks the second year in a row that SJSU upset the top-seeded team in the Mountain West Championship.
The Spartans are scheduled to play the semifinals match against UNLV at 11 a.m. on Friday in Darling Tennis Center.