The UNM men's tennis team hopes to return to its old glory days this week by wrapping up a Mountain West Conference Tournament championship in Las Vegas, Nev.
The Lobos won the title in 2000 during the conference's inaugural season and will try to repeat that succes at this year's tournament.
Third-seeded UNM (15-8, 3-2 in the conference) has a chance to get off to a good start Thursday when it goes up against the worst team in the conference, sixth-seeded Air Force Academy (13-9, 0-5).
The Lobos routed the Falcons 6-0 April 7 in their last home match of the season, which was settled before doubles action because of the lopsided score. UNM also is a favorite because it has been playing well lately.
"We are going into the tournament right now as confident as we have been all year," UNM head coach Alan Dils said. "I think we are playing the best tennis we have been playing all year up and down the line-up. So I feel very good about where the guys are at this time of the year."
If the Lobos win, Friday they will play defending champion and second-seeded Brigham Young University, which has a bye in the first round. UNM lost 6-1 to the Cougars at home on April 6.
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But Dils added that he Lobos do not want to take Air Force lightly.
"That's always a concern; we don't want to look past anyone," he said. "We certainly have done work to prepare for BYU as well if, we get past Air Force. We just keep reminding them that they have to get the job done."
Dils also pointed out that any team can win the title, citing the Cougars' run in last year's tournament as an example. BYU won the championship as the fourth seed, while second-seeded UNM took home third place, defeating top seed San Diego State University in the consolation bracket.
"We have a lot of older guys, so that should hopefully work in our favor," he said. "Hopefully, the freshmen that are playing will take a page out of the upperclassmen and not look past the Air Force guys. Those are the guys I worry about the most, the younger guys."
But he added that the young players have played so well during the season that he expects them to step up to the challenge.
UNM has four players with 23 wins or more and all nine Lobos have records above the .500 mark.
Sophomore Divan Coetzee has played in the number one singles position for UNM for much of the season and leads the team in victories with a 27-8 record, including 5-5 versus ranked opponents. Junior Bart Scott is second on the team in wins, compiling a 26-11 record and the Kowalski brothers - John and David - have 23 wins apiece.
"We have worked on a lot of things, mixed our line-up a little bit and we have found the right combinations where guys should be playing," Dils said. "I think we have built up to this point really well."
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