March 13, 2007
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THIS WEEK…The 53rd ranked New Mexico women’s tennis team hits the road to California as they prepare play three matches in four days. In what could be considered one of the toughest road match stretches ever, the team will play three 10-28 teams. The Lobos take on No. 28 UC Irvine in an away match at Irvine March 14, then head to Malibu to take on No. 24 Virginia Commonwealth in a neutral match on the 15th and finally round out the trip with an away match against 26th ranked Pepperdine March 17th.
LAST WEEK: NMSU AND SACRAMENTO STATE…The Lobos were able to regain their confidence after two big wins. The first came against instate rival New Mexico State in a shutout performance then a 4-3 upset over Sacramento State.
The New Mexico State Aggies came in hoping to improve upon their 24-3 series record between the teams. What they got instead was a blowout performance of the New Mexico Lobos. With cheers from the crowd and in one of the fastest matches of the season the Lobos won all three doubles matches and all six singles matches. All together the Lobos dominated the Aggies.
Sacramento State proved to be a little more difficult but the Lobos were determined to keep their winning streak going, and they were successful. After losing the doubles point things were looking down for the Lobos, but junior Lucy Scott led the Lobos back to a 4-3 victory after winning the first singles point 6-1, 6-2. From there the points kept rolling in, Mackenzie White took her No. 2 singles match 6-3, 6-2, Nora Quintal defeated her opponent at the No. 5 spot 6-1, 6-2 and Sandra Zmak brought in the remaining singles point after a 7-6, 6-1 win to give New Mexico the match.
A LOOK AT THE UC IRVINE ANTEATERS…The No. 28 UC Irvine Anteaters are 14-2 in their season and are on a 9 game winning streak. The Anteaters have a perfect record at home (10-0) and are looking to continue their streak.
UC Irvine features an eleven player lineup with two seniors, four juniors, including 95th ranked singles player Becky Bernhard, three sophomores and two freshman. They are coached by Mike Edles who is in his 11th year with the Anteaters.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
A LOOK AT THE VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH RAMS…The Rams of Virginia Commonwealth University are currently ranked No. 24 in the nation, making them the highest ranked opponent of New Mexico this season. They are coming off a two game winning streak and hold a 8-3 record.
The Virginia Commonwealth roster features a total of seven players, three of which are ranked in singles and one ranked doubles team. The Rams have an experienced team with only two lower-classmen. They sport one senior, No. 118 Olga Borisova, four juniors which include No. 21 Tatsiana Uvarova and No. 68 Marianna Yuferova, one sophomore and one freshman. The doubles team of Borisova and Yuferova is currently ranked No. 9 in the NCAA. The team is coached by Paul Kostin who is in his 17th season as head coach with the Rams.
The Lobos and the Rams have met up one time previously with Virginia Commonwealth coming out on top.
A LOOK AT THE PEPPERDINE WAVES…The Pepperdine Wave sport a record of 7-6 and are currently ranked No. 26 in the nation. They are on a one game winning streak after defeating Mountain West Conference opponent UNLV in a 6-1 match.
The Pepperdine roster features a total of ten players with four ranked singles players and one ranked doubles team. The Waves sport two seniors, including No. 123 Caroline Raba, three juniors, including No. 41 Bianca Delgheru and 94th ranked Sylvia Kosakowski, one sophomore, and four freshman including No. 83 Katia Sabate. Their doubles team of Delgheru and Kosakowski is currently ranked No. 16 in the nation. The team is coached by Gualberto Escudero who is in his 30th season with the Waves.
The two teams have met a total of eight times with Pepperdine taking all eight wins. The last meeting came last year at Pepperdine when the Waves were ranked No. 17 in the nation. The Lobos fell to Pepperdine in a 6-1 loss to complete their regular season and head on to conference play.
ON THE ROSTER…The Lobos now feature 10 players on the roster after the loss of senior Iva Gersic. They sport three seniors (Elisa Bonner, Allison Davis and Nora Quintal), three juniors (Ola Abou-Zekry, Jennifer Ryba and Lucy Scott), two sophomores (Maria Sotirchos and Mackenzie White) and two freshman (Ashley Bonner and Sandra Zmak). The UNM tennis team is coached by head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz who is entering her 22nd year with the Lobos and assistant coach Roy Cañada who is entering his 11th year.
The Lobos lost one senior from the 2004-05 squad (two-time All-American Maja Kovacek).
NATIONAL RANKINGS…New Mexico dropped to a No. 53 in the national team rankings despite two wins at home this weekend. There are a total of four Mountain West Conference teams ranked in the ITA National Ranking with two teams making the top-50 this week. BYU fell two places to No. 31 but remains the leader of the Mountain West Conference ranked teams. TCU finally took a turn for the better and rose in the rankings to No. 37 from its previous No. 39. After suffering a loss to upcoming Lobo opponent Pepperdine UNLV dropped out of the top-50 to No. 57. San Diego State was holding on to the bottom spots in the rankings, however the team finally fell out of the rankings this week.
In the individual rankings Ola Abou-Zekry achieved her first ever singles ranking at No. 62 in the first release of individual rankings. Last year Abou-Zekry was ranked at No. 49 as a doubles team with partner Lucy Scott. She had a strong fall season with a victory over No. 51 Holly Bagshaw from SDSU as well wins against USC and Fresno State. Abou-Zekry finished the fall season with an 11-2 record, including a loss to teammate Iva Gersic in the final of the SDSU Fall Invite.
Last year the team began the season at No. 48 in the nation and ended at No. 45. The highest ranking New Mexico has ever received was No. 21 in their 2004 season.
Central Regional Rankings:
This is the first time since 2003 that the team sports three singles players in the regional rankings. Iva Gersic leads the Lobos at No. 3 with Ola Abou-Zekry ranking 20th and freshman Sandra Zmak at No. 30.
In doubles Gersic teams with partner Lucy Scott for a No. 4 ranking while senior Nora Quintal and doubles partner Mackenzie White received a No. 12 ranking.
2006 FALL REVIEW…The fall season looks to be a promising preview for the regular season after the team had a strong presence in every invitational this fall. New Mexico made it to at least one semifinal round in every tournament they attended, including the doubles at the ITA Central Region Championships. Despite the loss of two-time All-American Maja Kovacek, Kolankiewicz said the team has high expectations for 2007 spring season.
DID YOU KNOW…
Four out of eleven 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)
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 30 straight semesters and above a 3.2 G.P.A. for 21 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 10 years
Sophomore Mackenzie White and freshman Sandra Zmak are the team’s first left-handed hitters in over five years.
2007 OUTLOOK…The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team enters the 2006-07 season with seven returning players, including ranked player Ola Abou-Zekry (No. 62). The Lobos will be looking to build off a strong 2006 season in which they advanced to the semifinals in the 2006 Mountain West Conference tournament, finished No. 3 in the Central Region and 45th in the nation.
The 2006 fall season was a good start to the 06-07 season as the Lobos made a strong impact in every invitational they attended advancing to the semifinal round of every tournament.
After leading the Lobos last year to a 14-9 record, and a No. 45 national ranking head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz is optimistic on how far the squad can go in her 22nd season of coaching at UNM. She believes that the schedule will allow the team to gain the higher national rankings than last year.
THE SCHEDULE…Once again New Mexico’s schedule is packed with ranked opponents, non-conference and conference. With just under half their total matches being at home, the Lobos look to improve upon last years results.
The Lobos host nine home matches at the Lobo Tennis Club (six non-conference and three conference), the rest are to be played on the road in Texas, California, Utah and Arizona.
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):It’s solid. It’s certainly an advantage for us to play at home and I try really hard to have at least eight to ten home matches a year. We have a lot of teams in the top-50 in our schedule also. The tough thing about scheduling is that the teams can vary quite a bit in the year and a half that you schedule the matches. But that’s why I’m so glad our conference is stronger because it gives us good opportunities. It will strengthen our schedule. If the conference is weak it doesn’t help your schedule at all, in fact it hurts you as you try to qualify for the NCAAs.
(Head coach on the coaching team this year, including former Lobo and two-time All-American Maja Kovacek as an undergraduate assistant):It’s great for our program. Anytime you can get additional help it’s very beneficial to the team because we’re so limited on what the NCAA allows us. We’re allowed one head coach, one paid assistant, a volunteer coach and an undergraduate coach. Getting a good volunteer coach is very helpful and we’ve benefited from Johnny Kowalski’s expertise. It’s a bonus having an undergraduate coach and especially one like Maja. This is the best coaching staff we’ve ever had.