Jan. 31, 2006
ON TAP THIS WEEKEND: The Lobos will play host to three teams thisweekend with Sacramento St., No. 28 Boise St., and Illinois St. all visitingthe UNM Tennis Complex Thursday thru. Sunday. The Lobos willlook to improve upon thier 1-1 record this season.
SCOUTING SACRAMENTO STATE: The Hornets open their seasonon Thursday at New Mexico. Sac. St. was 11-14 last season and went4-2 in the Big Sky confrence good for a 3rd place finnish. The Hornetsare coached by Slava Konikov who is in his first year at Sacramento St.UNM leads series 1-0
LOOKING AT THE BRONCOS: The Boise State Broncos come intothis weekends match looking to avenge a loss they suffered at the handsof the Lobos last season. The Broncos are ranked at No. 28 and havestarted the 2006 season 1-3. Coached by 10th year man Greg Pattonthe Broncos are comming off a 31-8 season in which they also went 4-0 in the WAC to earn the confrence championship. Boise St. brings withit the No. 13 ranked singles player in the nation in sophomore LukeShields.Boise St. leads series 7-5
A BRIEFING ON THE REDBIRDS: The Illinois State Redbirds arecoached by Greg Kennett and are comming off of a 12-13 record includinga 3-7 record in the Missouri Valley Confrence. The Redbirdsreturn 7 letterwinners from 2004-05 and are off to a 2-1 start in 2006.This will be the fourth time Illinois St. and UNM have met with NewMexico leading the series 3-0.
ON THE ROSTER: The Lobos have a talented group of freshmen tojoin the four returning letermen. UNM has one senior Eric Conklin, threesophomores Max Jones, Derek Lynch, and Kamil Pajkowski, and fourfreshman, Chandler Brass, Miles Bugby, Graeme Kassautzki, andJohnny Parkes. The UNM tennis team is coached by head coach AlanDils who is entering his tenth year with the Lobos and assistant coachLoren Dils who is also entering his tenth year. Andrew Irving is a volunteerassistant while Ryan Stotland is serving as the Undergrad assistant.
SCHEDULE: UNM will have plenty of tests early as the Lobos play anexciting schedule in 2006. The Lobos will host 11 matches this season,including three of the six conference matches on their schedule. Everyteam in the Mountain West Conference with the exception of Air Forceshould remain ranked nationally.Coach Dils on the 2006 schedule.”Hopefully with the strength of our schedule, by the time we get to theMWC matches we will be tough mentally because we will need itplaying that caliber of teams on back to back weekends,” Dils said.”We want to win the MWC, go into the NCAA tournament and make itto the round of 16 or better,” Dils said. “That is our goal every yearand this year is no exception. I feel like we have an excellent chanceto compete for the title again this year.”
