The UNM women's tennis team will try to ignore several distractions and concentrate on winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament this week in Provo, Utah.
The 56th-ranked Lobos are the third seed in the three-day tournament after finishing the regular season with a 5-2 conference mark and 12-9 overall. They will play the sixth-seeded Air Force Academy (13-11, 2-5 in the conference) Thursday in first round action.
And while post-season play is usually an exciting experience, it also can be hectic for players.
"This time of year is a little bit tough because we are finishing up school and getting ready to go away for the summer," UNM head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz said. "To deal with all that is always hard to keep the focus. That is the challenge, to keep the balance between school and tennis."
Despite the distractions, the Lobos' first round opponent should provide few obstacles. UNM crushed the Falcons 7-0 on the road April 5.
"But since then, they have played very well," Kolankiewicz said of Air Force. "For me that is the big one, getting by that first round and playing well. Their players fight hard and they have great team camaraderie. I just feel that we are going to be in for a much, much tougher match."
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The Lobos also are 4-0 all-time versus Air Force.
While UNM has dominated the series, Kolankiewicz said she is harping to her team the potential pitfalls of overlooking the Falcons.
"(Our players) know that they are playing well and that we have to be ready," she said. "Of course, they know that the pressure is on us because we are the higher seed and that sometimes makes it harder. But hopefully we can focus and play up to our capabilities."
The Lobos will be pinning their hopes on a young squad, with only one senior, while containing six freshmen and sophomores.
"We have four members on our team, half of our team, that have never played in a conference championship," Kolankiewicz said. "It is different, you do feel the pressure. It concerns me a little bit, but I think just playing the conference schedule and them realizing how important those matches were helped."
While UNM is young, they do have a bevy of talented players that have performed well this season.
The Lobos top player, sophomore Tjasa Suvak, leads the team in singles victories with a 23-13 record, while freshman Rachel Hatley chips in at 16-8. Veteran Courtney Choate provides the senior leadership and a 22-9 record, including an impressive 6-1 in conference play.
If UNM defeats the Falcons, it will probably go up against the University of Nevada at Las Vegas on Friday.
The second-seeded Rebels play seventh-seeded Colorado State University Thursday and they beat the Rams 7-0 during the regular season.
The Lobos lost to 18th-ranked UNLV 4-3 on the road April 7.
The team to beat, however, is 26th-ranked San Diego State University, which steamrolled through conference play with a 7-0 record, including a 7-0 pasting of UNM April6.
"San Diego State seems to be the front-runner right now, but I think in our hearts we feel like they are beatable, which is a good thing," Kolankiewicz said.
And she added that the Lobos have a chance to win the title because the team is playing well at the right time.
"I feel like we are ready, I feel like since mid-March we've played well," Kolankiewicz said. "We are really together as a team."
