April 26, 2005
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THIS WEEK…
The No. 48 and second seeded University of New Mexico women’s tennis team opens Mountain West Conference Championship action Thursday, April 28 with a match against No. 7 seed Wyoming at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif. at 11 a.m. (MST). Live results of the match will be made available on the MWC Championship Tennis page located at www.themwc.com or by clicking on the tennis championship logo on the side-bar of the UNM women’s tennis web site at www.golobos.com.
The Lobos (14-8, 6-1 MWC), who placed second in the MWC regular season this year, are on the hunt for their first tournament championship title ever. Last season, the squad suffered a heartbreaker in the championship match against BYU, losing just 4-3.
This year’s tournament could rival as one of the toughest out of the six years New Mexico has been competing in the MWC. BYU (18-3, 7-0 MWC) ended the regular season No. 1 in the conference and will definitely be a challenge for the Lobos again, but UNLV (12-7, 5-2 MWC) who placed third and San Diego State (15-9, 4-3 MWC) who came in fourth in the conference will also be much bigger threats to New Mexico this time than in tournaments past.
Here is this week’s schedule of matches:
2005 MWC Women’s Tennis Championship Bracket*All times MST
Thursday, April 28:
Match #1: No. 2 seed UNM vs. No. 7 seed Wyoming @ 11 a.m.
Match #2: No. 3 seed UNLV vs. No. 6 seed Colorado State @ 11 a.m.
Match #3: No. 4 seed San Diego State vs. No. 5 seed Utah @ 3 p.m.
Match #4: No. 1 seed BYU vs. No. 8 seed Air Force @ 3 p.m.
Friday, April 29:
Match #5: Loser of Match #1 vs. Loser of Match #2 @ 11 a.m.
Match #6: Winner of Match #1 vs. Winner of Match #2 @ 11 a.m.
Match #7: Loser of Match #3 vs. Loser of Match #4 @ 3 p.m.
Match #8: Winner of Match #3 vs. Winner of Match #4 @ 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 30:
Fifth place: Winner of Match #5 vs. Winner of Match #7 @ 11 a.m.
First place (championship): Winner of Match #6 vs. Winner of Match #8 @ 1 p.m.
No. 8 doubles team of Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic |
Lobo players Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic continue to be ranked in singles and doubles in the ITA national polls. Kovacek is ranked No. 46 as a singles player and Gersic is No. 85. Both have yet to dip under the top-10 in the doubles rankings this season as the powerful duo is ranked No. 8 entering this weekend’s tournament. As a team the Lobos ended the regular season last week ranked No. 47 in the country, but moved down this week to No. 48.
MWC HISTORY…
The Lobos are entering their sixth MWC tournament this weekend and will be looking to capture their first tournament title ever. Here is a breakdown of results from each year’s MWC tournament:
2000 MWC Tournament:
First round: No. 2 New Mexico def. No. 7 Wyoming, 6-0
Second round: No. 3 BYU def. No. 2 New Mexico, 5-4
Third place: No. 1 San Diego State def. No. 2 New Mexico, 5-4
Champion: No. 4 UNLV def. No. 3 BYU, 5-2
2001 MWC Tournament:
First round: No. 4 New Mexico def. No. 5 Utah, 4-3
Second round: No. 1 BYU def. No. 4 New Mexico, 4-1
Third place: No. 4 New Mexico def. No. 6 Colorado State, 4-1
Champion: No. 1 BYU def. No. 2 San Diego State, 4-3
2002 MWC Tournament:
First round: No. 3 New Mexico def. No. 6 Air Force, 4-1
Second round: No. 2 UNLV def. No. 3 New Mexico, 4-1
Champion: No. 2 UNLV def. No. 1 San Diego State, 4-2
2003 MWC Tournament:
First round: No. 3 New Mexico def. No. 6 Air Force, 4-0
Second round: No. 2 San Diego State def. No. 3 New Mexico, 4-1
Champion: No. 2 San Diego State def. No. 4 BYU, 4-1
2004 MWC Tournament:
First round: No. 1 New Mexico def. No. 8 Air Force, 4-0
Second round: No. 1 New Mexico def. No. 4 San Diego State, 4-0
Champion: No. 2 BYU def. No. 1 New Mexico, 4-3
A LOOK AT WYOMING IN TOURNAMENT PLAY…
Wyoming has yet to win one match in the MWC tournament as it stands with a 0-12 record in conference tournament competition. The only other time New Mexico has opened the tournament with a match against Wyoming was in 2000 where it swept the Cowgirls 6-0. That is the only time the two teams have met in the tournament.
Overall, New Mexico holds a 9-0 series record over Wyoming. During the regular season, UNM defeated Wyoming 7-0 on the road.
UNM RECORD BOOK…
Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic are close to surpassing the record for most doubles wins in a single season. Last season, Sandy Lukowski set the record with 34 doubles wins. Kovacek and Gersic currently have 32 wins.
Kovacek has all ready broken one record this season. She holds the record for most career doubles wins with 86. She passed the former record of 84 set by Ana Friganovic in 2000. Senior Michelle Heidbrink also broke the former record as she follows Kovacek with 85 doubles victories.
Sophomore Iva Gersic |
GERSIC GOES UNDEFEATED…
Sophomore Iva Gersic finished the regular season undefeated in the MWC in singles and doubles. She won three matches at the No. 1 singles position and three at the No. 2 spot. In doubles, she won all seven of her matches with teammate Maja Kovacek at the No. 1 position. The only singles match she did not play was against Air Force.
Gersic currently holds the best singles record on the team with an overall record of 28-5 and is 32-6 in doubles with Kovacek. Her five singles losses are split between fall competition and spring ball. She lost two matches out of 13 matches played during the fall and has only lost three matches out of 20 matches played during the spring regular season. In doubles, Gerisc and Kovacek lost only three matches out 16 played during the fall and three out of 22 matches played during the spring.
CHECK OUT THESE NUMBERS…
Singles: New Mexico’s top three singles players (No. 1 Maja Kovacek, No. 2 Iva Gersic and No. 3 Michelle Heidbrink) combined to boast an 18-2 singles record in regular season MWC play. Gersic went undefeated in singles while Kovacek and Heidbrink only lost one of their matches out of the seven MWC matches played.Doubles: Both doubles teams of Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic and Michelle Heidbrink and Tiffany Robertson went undefeated during MWC play in the regular season, bringing the teams to a combined perfect record of 14-0 in the MWC.
Out of the 22 matches played this spring, New Mexico has won the doubles point 17 times. Seven of those doubles points came during the MWC portion of the spring schedule as the Lobos took the doubles point in every MWC match played during the regular season.
2005 MWC TOURNAMENT…
This year’s MWC tournament will be held in San Diego, Calif. for the second consecutive year (April 28-30). Last season, the Lobos entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and defeated Air Force and San Diego State to advance to the championship round where they played No. 2 seed BYU. The championship match against the Cougars was close, but BYU managed to outlast the Lobos with a tight 4-3 score for the MWC tournament championship title.
Despite the loss in the final round, the Lobos received plenty of recognition from the conference. Maja Kovacek was named player of the year and head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz was named coach of the year. New Mexico also featured three singles players and two doubles teams on the all-MWC teams. Lobos Iva Gersic, Michelle Heidbrink and Maja Kovacek made the singles list and the duos of Gersic and Maria Ruiz-Fabrega and Kovacek and Sandy Lukowski represented New Mexico on the doubles list.
For all MWC Women’s Tennis Championship information visit the tennis main page at www.themwc.com or find the logo link for the championship on the side-bar of the UNM women’s tennis page at www.golobos.com.