ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — San Diego is resplendent with weather, if you talk with the locals. They weren’t talking on Friday as in a rare occurance, UNM’s tennis match with San Diego State was rained out, and will be made up at a later date.
In a battle of the Mountain West’s two best locations for tennis, as well as a pair of NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, the Lobos will have to make the match up, possibly prior to the Mountain West Tournament in Las Vegas in late April. The match would have pitted San Diego State (7-11, 2-0 MW) and New Mexico (13-13, 1-3 MW) in a match with definite conference title implications. Instead, UNM turns its attention to Sunday as the Lobos will step out of conference to take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
Tulsa will enter the match at 14-10 overall but that doesn’t tell the story as Tulsa is ranked 18th in the latest ITA Team rankings. UNM will look for Ricky Hernandez-Tong to continue his winning ways. The rookie has been solid all season, going 12-4 in dual meet play, including 6-1 at his primary Number 4 singles slot. While Hernandez-Tong has been solid, there is no Lobo hotter than Agustus Ge. Augie as he is better known brings an 11-match winning streak into the meeting with Tulsa.
The match certainly won’t be easy, but there will be no shortage of NCAA tournament talent on display. Tulsa has the No. 46 ranked singles play in Or Ram-Harel, while three ranked doubles teams will be on display. UNM’s tandem of Hayden Sabatka and Bart Van Leijsen are ranked No. 29, and Tulsa has a pair of ranked tandems in Matthew Kirby and Danny McCloskey (No. 72) and then Kirby and Okkie Kellerman (No. 77).
Match time is slated for noon at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium on what should be a fun festival atmosphere as both the UNM baseball team and the UNM softball team will also be at home playing at noon. Admission is $5 and is good for any of the events.
NOTE: The Lobos have a treat for fans in that the grandstands are now covered. The covering doubles as court length solar panels which helps with The University of New Mexico’s Green Initiative.