LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Idaho women’s tennis team had its four-match win streak snapped Sunday as it fell 4-3 to New Mexico State in its Western Athletic Conference opener.

The Vandals won the doubles point with three straight victories, but the Aggies battled back to win four of six singles matches to take the overall match. 

The match came down to the No. 6 singles match which NMSU won 7-6, 7-6 over Idaho’s Beatriz Flores.

“A tough one to lose, against a team I think we can beat,” Idaho coach Dan Pollock said. “Sometimes I think we play one too many matches in a weekend and ran into some tired legs in some third sets today.”

The Vandals won Friday and Saturday before playing again Sunday morning.

Victoria Lozano won at the top singles spot and Molly Knox won at No. 3 for Idaho, but the Aggies edged the Vandals in several close matches in the other four singles matches.

Almudena Sanz fell 7-6, 6-1 at No. 2, Sophie Vickers lost 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 at No. 4 and Alejanda Lozano fell 7-6, 6-2 at No. 5.

“I’m really proud of the way the girls came out, it was fun to watch them play,” Pollock said. “For our first outdoor weekend of the semester I’m very happy with the way we played. Moving forward if we can keep that level of energy and concentration we can be a real dangerous team.”

The Vandals fall to 11-5 on the season with the loss and 0-1 in the WAC. Idaho returns to action March 16 when it faces Houston in Las Vegas, before taking on Kansas the next day.

Idaho at New Mexico State

March 4, 2012 at Las Cruces, N.M.

(NM State Tennis Complex)

New Mexico State 4, Idaho 3

Singles

No. 1: Victoria Lozano (ID) def. Manon Sylvain (NMSU), 6-0, 6-3

No. 2: Denise Van Der Ben (NMSU) def. Almudena Sanz (ID), 7-6, 6-1

No. 3: Molly Knox (ID) def. Ginet Pinero (NMSU), 7-5, 7-5

No. 4: Natalia Salum (NMSU) def. Sophie Vickers (ID), 2-6, 7-5, 6-2

No. 5: Ros-Polly Nguyen (NMSU) def. Alejandra Lozano (ID), 7-6, 6-2

No. 6: Annemieke Witte (NMSU) def. Beatriz Flores (ID), 7-6, 7-6

Order of finish: 1, 5, 2, 3, 4, 6