Air Force Academy

For the third consecutive match, the Air Force men's tennis team came very close to winning its first conference match of the season. New Mexico won all three doubles matches and four singles contests to hand the Falcons a 5-2 defeat Friday at the Academy. New Mexico improved to 8-6 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West Conference, while Air Force fell to 16-7 and 0-3 in league play. New Mexico, ranked No. 60 in the nation, came out of the gates strong with three decisive doubles victories. At the No. 1 position, UNM's fifth-ranked team of Ryan Stotland and David Kowalski handled senior Chris Dong and junior Trevor Johnson, 8-3. The Lobos' No. 2 team of Max Jones and Kamil Pajkowski defeated junior Shannon Buck and sophomore Justin Lau, 8-3, while Eric Conklin and Derek Boland beat AFA's No. 3 team of senior Tyler McClung and sophomore Robby Alexander, 9-7. Air Force tried everything it could to rally during the singles matches. UNM took the first two matches to gain a 3-0 lead. Stotland defeated McClung, 7-6, 6-3 at the No. 2 and Kowalski beat Johnson in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 3 position.

The Falcons, still searching for their first conference victory since the 2003 season, climbed back into the match with victories from Buck, who beat Jones, 7-5, 6-1, at the top spot, and Dong, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 winner over Pajkowski at No. 3. Buck, ranked 58th in the country, claimed his 15th consecutive win at No. 1 singles, while Dong improved to 11-10 in dual matches this season.

UNM clinched the victory when Conklin defeated Lau, 6-3, 7-5, at the No. 5 spot and Boland won the No. 6 match in three sets, 7-5, 6-7(9), 10-8 over Alexander.
Air Force battles 51st-ranked UNLV on Saturday, April 16 at the Academy, beginning at 10 a.m. New Mexico 5, Air Force 2
April 15, 2005, USAFA, Colo. Singles 1. Shannon Buck (AF) def. Max Jones, 7-5, 6-1 2. Ryan Stotland (UNM) def. Tyler McClung, 7-6, 6-3 3. David Kowalski (UNM) def. Trevor Johnson, 6-4, 6-4 4. Chris Dong (AF) def. Kamil Pajkowski, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 5. Eric Conklin (UNM) def. Justin Lau, 6-3, 7-5
6. Derek Boland (UNM) def. Robby Alexander, 7-5, 6-7(9), 10-8 Doubles 1. Stotland/Kowalski (UNM) def. Dong/Johnson, 8-32. Jones/Paikowski (UNM) def. Buck/Lau, 8-33. Conklin/Boland (UNM) def. McClung/Alexander, 9-7