ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The No. 71-ranked University of Denver men's tennis team (7-4, 0-0 Summit) posted a 4-1 at New Mexico on Friday afternoon, kicking off its first of back-to-back days on the road.
 
Doubles came down to a tiebreak in the top match, seeing the Pioneers come out on top to take a 1-0 lead overall. New Mexico drew level for a couple minutes before DU won its first of three straight singles matches in straight sets to clinch the dual.
 
Doubles:
After dropping the doubles point in its last two matches, Denver reversed the trend to win it in a battle on Friday. The day's first two matches wrapped up within minutes of each other, starting with the No. 3 DU team of senior Raffaello Papajick and freshman Aaron Beduhn, who rallied from down a break at 0-2 to win five straight games on their way to a 6-3 win.
 
The host team stayed alive for the point with a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles, leaving the No. 1 match to determine the dual's first point. Denver's Connor Robb-Wilcox and Theo Coats also conceded a break in their first service game but broke back for 2-2, setting up the remainder of the set to remain on serve and to end in a tiebreak. A quick 3-0 lead for the Pioneers turned into a 5-1 lead at the changeover and an eventual 7-3 win.
 
Singles:
The only singles matches to reach a conclusion all ended in two sets – three of them going to the Pioneers.
 
New Mexico earned the first singles win of the day, doing so at No. 4 singles. Just moments later, though, Beduhn reclaimed the lead for Denver at the No. 6 spot. His first set started on serve before he grabbed a break lead for 6-3 and successfully served it out at 6-3. That momentum carried into the second set with the DU freshman jumping out to a 3-0 lead. UNM's Connor Dils fought back to level things t 4-4, but Beduhn answered with two consecutive games won to seal it at 6-4.
 
Robb-Wilcox put DU within a point of the dual for his fourth win in his last five matches at No. 5 singles. As Beduhn did in his second set, Robb-Willcox did in his first set, claiming a 3-0 lead to begin play. He grabbed a second break for 5-2 and closed it out, 6-2. The second set started tighter, but the players traded breaks in the middle before the Denver graduate student broke in the final game to take it, 6-4.
 
Coats again clinched the dual for Denver with his 20^th singles win of 2025-26 and his sixth in straight sets in dual match play. After exchanging breaks early, he found the set-deciding break in the 10^th and final game to take a 6-4 lead. His second set held on serve for the first half until Coats pulled away, going winning what would be the final four games for a 6-2 win.
 
The top two courts remained unfinished but were proving to be tight competitions. Playing at No. 1 singles for the fourth time, sophomore Samuel Rovai held a lead in the first set but found himself in an extended tiebreak, dropping it, 8-6. He was sitting down a break midway through the second set when it was abandoned.
 
At No. 2 singles, Papajcik had just forced a third set after losing the opener. In the second set, he rattled off four straight games to take it, 6-4. The final set had not finished its first game when Coats clinched the dual, leaving Papajcik's match unfinished.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's tennis team continues its six-match road trip when it plays at Northern Arizona on Saturday, March 7, at 5 p.m. MT.