The UNM men's tennis team will bring down the curtain on its home schedule this weekend with a three-match homestand at the Lobo Tennis Club that could make or break its season.
All three of the Lobos' matches are against Mountain West Conference opponents.
"Hopefully, we'll come away with a share of the conference championship," head coach Alan Dils said. "We need to get our guys to play the best they can."
UNM (11-7, 1-1) plays today against the University of Utah at 2 p.m. The Utes (11-7) head into their first conference match looking for their fourth straight victory.
Dils said Utah is not weak in any area and that the Lobos need to play well or they could find themselves on the losing end.
On Saturday, UNM will face off against 75th-ranked Brigham Young University (8-7) at 2 p.m. The Cougars are coming off an impressive 6-1 win against 66th-ranked Boise State University, who the Lobos have split with this year. UNM is 3-6 versus ranked teams.
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"BYU is very good," Dils said. "They are a very strong serving team with a lot of attacking players. They're going to be tough."
The Lobos will play their final home match Sunday at 10 a.m. versus the Air Force Academy (12-5, 0-2.) The Falcons have stumbled out of the gate in conference play with losses to San Diego State University and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.
Dils said that Air Force is a decent team that is capable of beating anybody.
"They're very well disciplined, as you would expect from a service academy, and they will fight to the end," he said.
Three players who have recorded more than 20 wins will lead the Lobos. Sophomore Divan Coetzee (23-8), ranked as high as 91st in the nation, has seen his ranking drop to 125th after suffering a shoulder injury and losing his last three matches. Junior Bart Scott (24-8) has been on a tear as of late, winning 11 of his last 13 matches and leads UNM in victories. Freshman David Kowalski (21-9) also has been playing well and is third on the team in wins.
Coetzee's shoulder injury aside, Dils said the Lobos are in good shape health-wise.
"We've got a couple of guys that are sore, but our injuries are not bad for this time of year and that's definitely a plus," he said.
Dils added that the Lobos' tough non-conference schedule has prepared them for this time of year and their confidence level is high.
"Our confidence was buoyed with our win at UNLV," he said. " We were down after the loss to San Diego State, but we bounced back with a win at UNLV and UNLV lost to SDSU, so that gave us a second life and a little boost."
Dils said he believes UNM should be in position to fight for the conference championship and possibly do well in the postseason.
"I don't think we've put our best team on the court yet this season, as far as everybody playing their best at the same time," he said. "This time of year, we try to build toward everybody peaking at the same time. Hopefully, we're getting close and preparing the guys physically and mentally for conference and nationals."
