Despite its youth and inexperience, the UNM women’s tennis team heads into the tough Mountain West Conference Tournament Thursday confident after a successful regular season.
The Lobos will invade Fort Collins, Colo., with a roster that includes five freshmen and one sophomore. It is the same roster that has helped the Lobos build a national ranking of 43 and a record of 14-8, including 4-3 in the Mountain West.
The Lobos are the fourth seed in the tournament and will take on the fifth-seeded University of Utah (6-12, 3-4 in conference) in the quarterfinals. This will be the second meeting between these two teams with the Lobos beating the Utes earlier in the year in decisive fashion, 7-0.
“I felt that it was one of our best matches we played this season,” UNM head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz said. “Since then, they have changed their lineup and so have we, so the players will be playing different opponents. We need to be fired up and ready. It is the only one we are thinking of right now.”
In the game played March 24 at the Lobo Tennis Club, many of the matches were not very competitive. The Utes only won two sets in singles play and could only produce eight points in three doubles matches.
“I think we have a big advantage in that we beat them pretty soundly and played good against them in past years so we have the mental advantage,” Kolankiewicz said. “I like the fact we are playing them outside because they usually play indoors. I don’t really see any problems we have against them.”
One problem the Lobos might have is that so many UNM freshmen are playing in their first conference tournament. However, Kolankiewicz said the experience each player has gotten during the season combats that theory, especially since they faced three teams in the conference ranked in the top 75 in the nation
“We are one of the younger teams in our conference, and I think that it could be a good thing going into the tournament because they want to do well and they are not sure what it is about,” she said. “Hopefully they will do well so we can win the thing. I am not worried about them anymore because they have played well for much of the season.”
Freshmen Sandy Lukowski, Lindsey Marvel, Maria Ruiz-Fabrega and Tjasa Suvak have competed in singles matches for most of the year and sophomore Caroline Pollock plays in doubles matches.
Even with the younger Lobos stepping up, UNM is still led by senior Natalia Alekhova. She will head into the tournament with a team-high 21 wins and provides the team with experience and leadership.
“I have been telling them that we have to work as a team, be very supportive of each other,” Alekhova said. “Everybody’s tired, thinking about school and going home so we need to keep our concentration. For the whole summer, we will remember the outcome of the tournament so we need to do well.”
The Lobos will head into the tournament with seven players having double-figure wins in singles play. Other notables are Suvak with 19 singles wins and Marvel’s 18 wins. In doubles, the combination of Marvel and Pollock lead the team with 12 doubles victories.
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“To do well in tournament everybody needs to play well and play well for three days,” Kolankiewicz said. “The key is to stay real positive as a team and have great intensity.”
The Lobos have made it to the conference tournament semifinals five straight years. If UNM defeats the Utes, it will probably play Brigham Young University in the semifinals. The 30th-ranked Cougars will battle the University of Wyoming (4-14, 0-7 in conference). The Cougars are the number one seed and defeated the eighth-seeded Cowgirls 7-0 during the regular season.
The Cougars finished the conference regular season undefeated at 7-0 and 12-8 overall. BYU and the Lobos met once during the season, with the Cougars trouncing the Lobos 5-2. UNM is 0-19 all-time versus the Cougars.
“I am still waiting for that victory over BYU, and I have a feeling it will happen when I least expect it,” Kolankiewicz said.
In the other conference match-ups, 46th-ranked and second-seeded San Diego State University (13-7, 6-1 in conference) will take on the seventh-seeded Air Force Academy (12-14, 1-6). SDSU beat Air Force in its only meeting this season 7-0. The 49th-ranked and third-seeded University of Nevada at Las Vegas (9-11, 5-2 in conference) will play against the host six-seeded Colorado State University (11-10, 2-5). UNLV beat CSU earlier in the season in a tight, 4-3 victory.
