April 4, 2007
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THIS WEEK…The No. 69 University of New Mexico women’s tennis team is searching for their first conference win as they head to Salt Lake City, Utah to take on Mountain West Conference ranked leader No. 35 BYU in a neutral match on Friday at 10:00 am and the University of Utah in an away match also at 10:00 am. The Lobos currently hold a 7-9, 0-3 MWC record as they prepare to battle in their last regular season matches away from the Lobo Tennis Club.
LAST WEEK: TCU, UNLV AND SDSU…Fort Worth, Texas was not a lucky city for the Lobos last weekend after they posted an 0-3 start to their conference schedule.
The New Mexico team headed to Fort Worth to take on the Horned Frogs of TCU in a Thursday match. While Nora Quintal and Mackenzie White got the team’s first doubles win since the duo overcame a Sacramento State tandem on March 10. The Lobos had a difficult time keeping the momentum against TCU’s three ranked players in the singles action however, and fell to a 6-1 match. Junior Jennifer Ryba posted the only singles win on he board against Amy Beck in a 6-0, 6-0 shutout.
After getting a day off to regroup the team took on UNLV in a match that was postponed due to the weather. The Lobos recorded another doubles win, this time against 35th ranked Elena Gantcheva and Kristina Nedeltcheva at the No. 1 spot. They ranked team was taken down by the reunited duo of Sandra Zmak and Lucy Scott, who have not played together since the loss of Iva Gersic. The Lobos continued to struggle in singles play however and fell to the Rebels in another 6-1 match with White taking the single point after a 5-7, 7-6, 14-12 tie-breaker over Nikol Dimitrova.
In the final match of the weekend and match that fell on April Fools’ Day, the team was fooled by SDSU’s non-ranked team and fell 5-2. For the first time since the March 8 match against instate rival NMSU, the Lobos won the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and 3 spots. Things look to be clicking again in the doubles department with Zmak and Scott leading the team at the No. 1 spot. Maria Sotirchos stepped in for White, who sat out due to a hand injury, and teamed with Quintal for the No. 3 win. No. 120 Ola Abou-Zekry got her first win of the weekend with a strong performance over Eliska Krausova at the No. 1 singles spot for 7-5, 6-1 victory.
A LOOK AT THE BYU COUGARS…The No. 35 BYU Cougars have fallen behind TCU in the rankings for the first time since February 27. BYU has led the conference in the NCAA rankings until this week where they fell to No. 35 and TCU rose to No. 32. The Cougars hold a 14-5, 4-0 MWC record heading to Salt Lake City and are the MWC leader with four conference wins. The Cougars are on a six game winning streak before taking on previous Lobo opponent Boise State.
BYU features a nine player roster with two seniors, three juniors, one sophomore and three freshman. The Cougars also hold the No. 49 ranked doubles team in the nation. They are coached by Dr. Craig Manning who is in his eight year with the Cougars.
The teams have met a total of 27 times with the Cougars leading the series 24-3. At the last meeting the Lobos fell to BYU in a close 4-3 match in Provo, Utah.
A LOOK AT THE UTAH UTES…The Utes own a record of 13-6, 3-1 MWC after three wins this weekend in Fort Collins, Colorado. The team is coming off a three game winning streak as they prepare to take on UNM and TCU at Utah.
The Utah roster features a total of 11 players with two seniors, four juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen. The team is coached by Megan Dorny who is in her fifth season with the Utes.
The Lobos and Utes have matched up a total of 24 times with New Mexico leading the series 13-11. Last year UNM took a 5-1 victory away from the Utes to help the Lobos to a 4-0 conference start.
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 No. 69 in the national team rankings after their conference starting performance. There are a total of five Mountain West Conference teams ranked in the ITA National Ranking with three teams making the top-50 this week. BYU fell to the No. 35 spot allowing TCU to take over the lead in the rankings at No. 32. BYU led the conference in rankings for the past five weeks. UNLV is back in the top-50 with a No. 50 ranking after defeating UNM this weekend and San Diego State stepped back up into the rankings, passing New Mexico to a No. 64 ranking.
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.