The New Mexico men’s tennis team will begin the spring semester on Friday in Lubbock, Texas as the defending Mountain West champion.
Texas Tech will host an invitational featuring UNM along with the University of Arizona and the University of the Pacific. UNM was the first to host the quadrangular event in 2014, followed by Arizona last year.
Everyone will compete against each team twice and the tournament will involve both singles and doubles matches.
Bart Scott, entering his second year as the men’s head coach, said he wanted to make sure the team had an early challenge. Although Texas Tech is ranked 17th nationally and will be considered the prohibitive favorite, all of the teams are pretty evenly matched, he said.
Scott said the tournament will be tough and he thinks it will be mutually beneficial for all the schools participating.
“We really love this tournament, this idea of starting with six brutal matches,” Scott said. “It’s sort of a preparation tournament; it’s a great way to start the year.”
Lobos Bart Van Leijsen and Hayden Sabatka finished the fall season by making a deep run at the USTA/ITA Indoor Championships in Flushing Meadows, New York, falling in the semifinal round. The doubles partners enter the spring with a No. 8 national ranking, according to the U.S. Tennis Association/Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.
The poll lists UNM as the 41st men’s team in the country.
Scott said that the pairing of Van Leijsen and Sabatka is the only solidified doubles team at this point. Nobody has really emerged as a clear-cut set of doubles partners, and Scott said he plans on using several combinations in Texas to see if another pair can find that chemistry.
Some of the players have been fighting some illness, Scott said, but the men are ready to compete. He said the break allowed the players to recharge, and they have been focusing on making sure they are mentally and physically prepared to compete with great energy and intensity.
“The number one thing is to make sure our intensity is at the highest level,” he said. “We’ll figure out how to put balls in the court as the games go by.”
Scott said he is most excited about seeing the team come together and compete for each other and for the school. He said competing in the fall is more individually driven, but the spring is more team oriented.
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Winning a match is hopefully just one of four points for the team, Scott said, and winning and losing, successes and failures are all accomplished as a team. He said each team is different and the best part of coaching is seeing what teams do when they play for each other.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, tennis, and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
