The UNM women's tennis squad concludes its fall season this weekend in the friendly confines of the UNM Tennis Complex -- the first home competition for the Lobos.
UNM plays host to the University of Houston, Boise State University and intrastate rival New Mexico State University in the annual Lobo Fall Invite. The pack of teams storming the tennis complex should provide adequate competition, but the talented Lobos look to steamroll past the competition before a two-month layoff.
"Right now we are in preseason," junior Tjasa Suvak said. "We are just playing matches to get a feeling for the regular season. This weekend, the teams are pretty good and we'll try our best. We are playing good right now."
The tournament will follow a mock-dual match format, meaning no team scores will be kept.
UNM is coming off a strong performance at the Omni Hotels/Central Regional Championships held last weekend in Tulsa, Okla. Suvak who is from Slovenia, had the best performance in individual match play. She qualified for the round of 16 in the main singles draw before being ousted from tournament play by Boise State's Jamina Hayward in three sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Sophomore Tiffany Robertson had an encouraging performance as well. The New Zealand native won all her qualifying matches and was a part of the main draw singles round of 32. Unfortunately, Robertson sustained a tough loss to Brigham Young University's Dominique Reynolds 6-1, 6-2.
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Freshman Maja Kovacek, a Croatian native, won the backdraw championship match in stellar fashion. She outplayed Courtney Steinbock from the University of Kansas 6-3, 6-2. UNM also boasts two gifted doubles teams. The team of senior Rachel Hatley and Albuquerque High School graduate Maria Ruiz-Fabrega, combined with the team of Suvak and Kovacek, present a prestigious force to Mountain West opponents.
At the Regional Championships Suvak and Kovacek advanced to the round of 16, but were eliminated by a doubles team from Oklahoma. Hatley and Ruiz-Fabrega got passed the round of 16, but were beaten in a tough quarterfinal match to a pair of Boise State players, 8-2.
This weekend will be the most important preseason event of the early season. Like any sport at UNM, beating NMSU is a big deal.
"We do have a rivalry with NMSU," Suvak said. "We want to win this match really bad. It's probably our most important match so far."
The young Lobos will look to take momentum from this event and carry it on their backs for the rest of the season. Because of NCAA rules, the team will take off a couple months in preparation for a challenging spring season.
"During the break, we still have conditioning and of course play some tennis," says Suvak. "We have finals week off and then Christmas break. Then we come back and practice hard for the spring season."
When the team returns to action in January, they will be faced with some stiff competition, both in conference and non-conference.
"As a team, we have a tough schedule," says Suvak. "We are playing some really tough teams -- teams that are ranked. I hope we can get ranked and improve from last year."
The tournament begins Friday morning, Nov. 8 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 10.
