May 9, 2006
THIS WEEK…The No. 46 University of New Mexico women’s tennis team (14-8) is headed to Los Angeles to take on the No. 27 Long Beach State University (21-4) in the first round of the NCAA Regional at 12 p.m. on Friday.
This is the first time the women’s tennis team has been invited to the NCAA Regional since 2004 when the team became the MWC regular season champions.
On the other side of the bracket, host USC (17-3), the No. 3 seed, will face Army (15-12) on Friday at 2 p.m. The second round match is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.
NEW MEXICO AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP…The Lobos are making their seventh trip overall to the NCAA Regional, including five straight appearances from 1996-2000. The Lobos are 1-6 in their six appearances at the tournament.
New Mexico Women’s Tennis in NCAA Regional Competition
May 3, 1996 Oklahoma State 5, UNM 1 Lawrence, Kan.
May 9, 1997 BYU 5, UNM 3 Lawrence, Kan.
May 14, 1998 UNM 5, Kansas State 3 Provo, UtahMay 15, 1998 Kansas 4, UNM 3 Provo, Utah
May 15, 1999 Kansas 5, UNM 3 Albuquerque, N.M.
May 13, 2000 Arizona 5, UNM 2 Los Angeles, Calif.
May 15, 2004 Oregon 4, UNM 3 Seattle, Wash.
NATIONAL RANKINGS…After defeating the No. 32 ranked SDSU at the MWC Championship New Mexico moved up in the rankings to the No. 46 spot from their previous No. 56. With the NCAA Regional taking the top 46 ranked teams in the nation this gave the Lobos a bid.
The Mountain West Conference ended the regular season with a total of five teams ranked in the top-50. TCU led the conference at No.16. The Horned Frogs took the regular season championship as well as the MWC Championship title. UNLV ended their season two spots lower than New Mexico at the No. 28 spot. San Diego State fell two spots after losing to New Mexico in the first round of the Conference Championship to the No. 34 spot. Rounding out the teams in the top-50 BYU ended their regular season at No. 28.
Individual and doubles rankings were updated once more before NCAA Individual Championships seeds were announced. Maja Kovacek remains UNM’s top ranked singles player this season. After the MWC Championship she remains No. 31 in the nation. Kovacek is currently 12-10 in the season and 23-13 overall as she received an at-large bid for the NCAA singles bracket. Iva Gersic moved up on spot from No. 81 to No. 80 after winning both of her singles matches in the conference tournament. The doubles team of Gersic and Kovacek is still a major threat in the doubles competition. They moved up from their No. 7 ranking to a No. 4 ranking after defeating both teams of the MWC Championship. The highest ranking ever achieved by a Lobo women’s tennis player came from the Gersic/Kovacek tandem when they reached a No. 2 ranking March 7 and 21. The duo has had a strong season so far with a 14-3 record this spring and 25-5 overall. They received a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Championships doubles bracket automatically naming them to the All-America team. Last season the highest ranking to ever be achieved by the duo was No. 4 in which they beat out the No. 5 ranked All-American pair of Kovacek and former Lobo Sandy Lukowski from the 2004 season.
LOOKING AT THE NCAA REGIONAL OPPONENTS…
The Long Beach State 49ers are coming off their season with a Big West Conference Championship. They are 21-4 in the season with a seven game winning streak. The 49ers were selected as the No. 2 seed in the USC bracket. LBSU has been made four NCAA appearances, this being their third consecutive. They are currently 0-3 in NCAA play.
The University of Southern California enter the NCAA Regional as the No. 3 seed with a record of 17-3. This will be the Trojans 22nd trip and 15th straight appearance to the NCAA Regional. Their record is 45-21 overall in NCAA action with 6 team titles.
Army is currently unranked in the nation with a record of 15-12. The Black Nights took the Patriot League Conference title giving them an automatic bid to the NCAA Regional. This will be their second straight appearance in the NCAA with a total of six invitations.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS…After a successful 2006 season Lobo players move up in the UNM record books.
Most Career Wins – Singles4. Senior Maja Kovacek with 99 singles wins7. (Tied) Junior Iva Gersic with 80 singles wins
Most Career Wins – Doubles1. Senior Maja Kovacek with 112 doubles wins2. Junior Iva Gersic with 91 doubles wins
Most Combined Career Wins – Singles and Doubles1. Senior Maja Kovacek with 211 combined wins6. Junior Iva Gersic with 171 combined wins
Highest Career Winning Percentage – Minimum 60 Matches1. Junior Iva Gersic with a record of 171-39 (.814)3. Senior Iva Gersic with a record of 211-80 (.725)
MWC TOURNAMENT RECAPThe Lobos began the MWC Championship with a match against the No. 32 SDSU in round 1. Throughout the match there were three rain delays and an overnight delay. Despite the on again off again match the Lobos were able to win the dual match with a victory on the second day from Ola Abou-Zekry. The night of April 27 Abou-Zekry was up in her match when it was called for the night. The next day Abou-Zekry kept her lead and won the match giving New Mexico a 4-3 victory against the Aztecs.
In the second round UNM played the No. 1 seeded team, TCU. The Lobos took the doubles point with victories from the 4th ranked Iva Gersic and Maja Kovacek and from Abou-Zekry and Lucy Scott at the No. 2 spot. New Mexico, however was unable to hold onto their lead and fell to the Horned Frogs in the singles matches.
MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK…Players from the New Mexico women’s tennis team have earned a total of three Mountain West Conference Player of the Week honors this season.
The first to be awarded was Ola Abou-Zekry on Feb. 16 after she helped the team defeat No. 60 Texas Tech and UTEP at home in the Lobo Tennis Club. Abou-Zekry won all four of her matches that weekend playing at the No. 2 spot in doubles and the No. 3 spot in singles. In doubles action Abou-Zekry and doubles partner Lucy Scott defeated the 23rd ranked team of Katja Kovacic and Erin Hunter from Texas Tech.
Iva Gersic was awarded the following week on Feb. 23 after the Lobos defeated Oklahoma State and rival New Mexico State. Gersic teamed with doubles partner Maja Kovacek at the No. 1 spot as the 3rd ranked doubles team in the nation. Together they earned victories both matches, including the only UNM win in doubles against Oklahoma State. Gersic played at the No. 2 singles spot against New Mexico State and at the No. 1 singles spot with Oklahoma State winning both matches.
Gersic won her second award this season on March 23 after going undefeated in her four matches against No. 17 Pepperdine and No. 49 Sacramento State. Gersic defeated the No. 93 Sylvia Kosakowski earning New Mexico’s only match point against Pepperdine. She also led at the No. 1 singles spot to help UNM defeat Sacramento State. In doubles action the 3rd ranked duo of Gersic and Kovacek defeated Pepperdine’s No. 6 ranked tandem.
NCAA HONORS…An announcement from NCAA was released March 13th in recognition of Division I teams and their academic achievement in the classroom. The NCAA honored 1,048 teams based on Academic Progress Rate with The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team among them. Their honorees were meant to include the top 10 percent, but with only two years of APR data there were was 17.1 percent of the 6,112 Division I teams with perfect 1000 APR.
Grouping was split up between specific sports and men’s and women’s teams. Women’s tennis featured the most teams honored with 93. For more information on the Academic Progress Rate go to www.NCAA.org (click the “Academics and Athletes” tab on the home page, then the “Academic Progress Rates” link under “Education and Research”).
ON THE ROSTER…The Lobos feature ten players on the roster this season with one seniors (Maja Kovacek), four juniors (Elisa Bonner, Allison Davis, Iva Gersic and Nora Quintal), three sophomores (Ola Abou-Zekry, Jennifer Ryba and Lucy Scott) and two freshman (Mackenzie White and Maria Sotirchos). The UNM tennis team is coached by head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz who is entering her 21st year with the Lobos and assistant coach Roy Cañada who is entering his tenth year.
The Lobos lost two seniors from the 2004-05 squad (Michelle Heidbrink and Tiffany Robertson).
2005 FALL REVIEW…The 2005 fall season proved to be a good learning experience for the team. After dealing with illness and injury the Lobos look forward to proving themselves in the spring. The team went to three invites (UNM, Cal Berkeley and SDSU), competed at the ITA Central Championships, and had Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic compete in two of ITA’s most prestigious national events (Riviera All-American Championships and the National Individual Indoor Championships.)
DANGEROUS DUO…The doubles team of Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic had a very eventful fall season as they competed in two of the ITA’s national events. In October, the pair was selected for the second year in a row to compete in the doubles main draw at the Riviera All-American Championships. Both players were also selected as singles players, Kovacek in the singles main draw and Gersic in the singles qualifying tournament. While at the tournament, the No. 3 New Mexico team defeated the No. 19 Indiana duo in the first round of doubles competition. Kovacek and Gersic then went on to defeat the Cal Berkeley in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, the Lobo tandem fell to No. 2 Notre Dame, but earned a bid to the National Individual Indoor Championships in November.
At the indoor championships, Kovacek and Gersic defeated the team from South Florida in the first round of the doubles main draw. The duo went on to be recognized among the top two doubles teams in the nation after advancing to the semifinals round with a win against TCU. They lost by default to Stanford in the semifinal round.
DID YOU KNOW…
Five out of nine players on the UNM women’s tennis team are international student-athletes.
Junior Iva Gersic currently holds the record for highest career winning percentage (123-25, .831)
Senior Maja Kovacek holds the record for most combined single season wins (singles and doubles) at 64 and most career wins in doubles.
The outdoor tennis courts at the Lobo Tennis Club were fully replaced in July 2004.
The Lobos have maintained above a 3.0 G.P.A. for 28 straight semesters and above a 3.2 G.P.A. for 19 consecutive semesters.
In the spring of 2004, the Lobos captured their fifth undefeated home record in the last eight years and their 18th straight home win.
In 2004, New Mexico won its first Mountain West Conference regular season title with a perfect 7-0 record in conference play.
New Mexico has had a winning record for the past 9 years
THE SCHEDULE…Once again New Mexico’s schedule is packed with ranked opponents, non-conference and conference. With the minimal home matches this year the Lobos have a full and difficult schedule ahead of them.
The Lobos host only five home matches at the Lobo Tennis Club (two non-conference and three conference), while the rest are to be played on the road.
Conference games will be played toward the end of New Mexico’s schedule, starting at the end of March.
(Head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz on this season’s schedule):This year is probably one of our best schedules ever, if not the best. I really made a point to try to schedule as many top-50 teams as I could possibly get. We’re going to be traveling a little bit more than we usually do because of that. It’s more difficult to get those teams to come here so we’re playing 80 percent on the road and 20 percent at home.
(Head coach on the addition of TCU to the MWC)One of our goals is always to win conference and it just got a whole lot harder with the addition of TCU. They finished 19th last year and they’re looking to be a top-10 team this year with three players ranked in the top-30. Their No. 1 player on the team won the All-American. So TCU has made it that much harder to win conference, but the competition is great. Women’s tennis in the Mountain West Conference is very strong this year, it was not a surprise to see five teams ranked in the top-50.