April 26, 2004
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UPCOMING
The No. 30 University of New Mexico women’s tennis team look to cap a solid season of tennis this week at the 2004 Mountain West Conference Championships in San Diego, Calif. San Diego State will host the tournament for the second straight year, as it welcomes eight women’s teams to the Barnes Tennis Center. Competition gets underway on Thursday, April 29, with the top-seeded Lobos (18-3, 7-0 MWC) matching up against No. 8 Air Force (13-12, 1-6) at 2 p.m. This is the third straight year the two teams have met in the first round. The action continues with day two of quarterfinals and Saturday will mark the conclusion of the championships with the semifinals and finals.
UNM captured its first-ever regular season conference title on April 18 with a 7-0 win at Air Force. The victory capped a 3-0 weekend for New Mexico which also defeated UNLV (5-2) and SDSU (7-0) in Colorado Springs, Colo.
MATCH INFORMATION/RESULTS
Complete information and results from the 2004 MWC Women’s Tennis Championships will be available at the official athletic department web site of the Mountain West Conference:
Mountain West Championships Results
NEW MEXICO AT THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
For the first time in their four appearances at the MWC Championships, the Lobos enter this year’s tournament as the No. 1 seed. Before earning top-seed rights, UNM’s highest seed came in 2000 at No. 2.
The Lobos have compiled an overall record of 5-5 at the conference tournaments and boast a perfect 4-0 record in first round matches.
UNM Conference Championship Results
2000 (No. 2 seed)
No. 7 Wyoming W, 6-0
No. 3 BYU L, 5-4
No. 1 SDSU L, 5-4
2001 (No. 4 seed)
No. 5 Utah W, 4-3
No. 1 BYU L, 4-1
No. 6 CSU W, 4-1
2002 (No. 3 seed)
No. 6 Air Force W, 4-1
No. 2 UNLV L, 4-1
2003 (No. 3 seed)
No. 6 Air Force W, 4-0
No. 1 SDSU L, 4-1
A LOOK AT AIR FORCE
Air Force finished its 2004 regular season with a 13-12 overall record and 1-6 MWC mark. In conference competition AFA’s only win came against Wyoming. During the regular season, the Lobos defeated the Falcons 7-0 in Colorado Springs, Colo. UNM has met Air Force the past two years at the MWC tournament, defeating the Falcons in both meetings by a combined score of 8-1. The Lobos hold a 7-0 all-time record over Air Force.
LAST YEAR AT THE MWC CHAMPIONSHIP
No. 48 UNM swept Air Force, 4-0, to open the 2003 MWC Women’s Tennis Championship at the Barnes Tennis Center on the campus of San Diego State University. The Lobos advanced to the semifinals the next day where they met 28th-ranked SDSU. Despite winning the doubles point, UNM fell in four of six singles matches to drop the match 4-1.
UNM IN THE RANKINGS
The Lobos sit at No. 30 this week. Last year, UNM finished at No. 54 in the nation with a 15-9 overall record, 5-2 in the MWC.
Several individual Lobo players are on the national list. Leading the pack with the highest national ranking is the powerhouse doubles team of senior Sandy Lukowski and sophomore Maja Kovacek. The duo are No. 23 this week. The Lobo tandem started the 2004 spring schedule at No. 21 in the national rankings and have never fallen below the top-25.
The duo will be entering the MWC championships with an outstanding overall record of 25-6.
No. 1 singles player Kovacek and No. 2 singles player freshman Iva Gersic are nationally ranked. Kovacek boasts a No. 75 national ranking as she enters the MWC championships with an overall record of 21-10 and Gersic, No. 113 in the nation, enters her first MWC tournament with an incredible 25-8 record.
AWARDS ON THE COURT
Junior Michelle Heidbrink (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) was the last Lobo to receive the MWC Player of the Week honor (April 22) after posting three singles and doubles wins over UNLV, SDSU and AFA. The award was Heidbrink’s first honor of the season. Heidbrink is the fourth Lobo to earn the MWC player of the Week honor this year. Other Lobos to receive the honor are freshman Iva Gersic (twice), sophomore Maja Kovacek and junior Tiffany Robertson.
Last season, the MWC awarded the Lobos with threePlayer of the Week awards which were given to Kovacek, Tiffany Robertson and Sandy Lukowski. As well, several Lobos received post-season accolades. Kovacek and Lukowski were both named to the 2003 all-MWC singles team. The two were named together on the all-MWC doubles team as well, along with fellow teammates Robertson and Michelle Heidbrink.
Most notably, Kovacek was named the I.T.A. Central Region Rookie of the Year, an honor that UNM had not enjoyed since 1997.