April 24, 2007
THIS WEEK…The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team heads to Colorado Springs, Colo. and the Air Force Academy as the fifth seed in the Mountain West Conference Championship bracket. The Lobos are lined up to take on the fourth seeded, No. 52 San Diego State. The teams are set to play against each other in the quarterfinals on Thursday, April 26 at 2:00 p.m.
LAST WEEK: CSU, WYOMING, AIR FORCEThe Lobos ended their regular season play with three straight wins last weekend after they hosted their final three matches against the Colorado State Rams, the Wyoming Cowgirls and the Air Force Falcons.
Colorado State came into the Lobo Tennis Club looking for a win added on to their fledgling conference record. New Mexico was too much for the Rams however, and the Lobos took the match 7-0 with wins at all six singles matches and at the No. 2 and 3 doubles positions.
The shutout against the Rams gave UNM the boost they needed in order to finish out the season with wins. After a day of practice, the Lobos returned to the courts to take on the Cowgirls. This time New Mexico took all eight matches, three doubles matches and six singles. The Lobos simply dominated the Cowgirls and their second shutout match in a row.
On the final day of the weekend the Lobos were paired up against the Falcons. The final conference match and the last regular season match, the Lobos were looking for victory. Air Force was looking for a win to add to their 0-7 conference record, but the Lobos refused to let Air Force get it from them. As was the trend all weekend, UNM finished the day with another 7-0 shutout win to bring their overall record to 11-10, 4-4 MWC.
A LOOK AT THE SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS…San Diego State tied for third in the conference standings as they head into the MWC Championship. The Aztecs earned the fourth seed due to their regular season loss against UNLV, giving UNLV the third seed and SDSU the fourth. They finished the season 14-10, 6-2 MWC and ranked 52nd in the NCAA.
The SDSU nine player roster features two seniors, two juniors, three sophomore and two freshman. The Aztecs are coached by Peter Mattera who is in his 14th season at San Diego State.
At the late meeting between the Lobos and the Aztecs, New Mexico lost in a 5-2 match after winning the doubles point, but only taking one singles match. This brought the series history to 7-14 San Diego State.
Last year the Lobos matched up against the Aztecs in the first round of the MWC Championships and took the match 4-3. The dual match lasted two days due to a weather cancellation. In the end Ola Abou-Zekry came through with a huge win to clinch the match for the Lobos and send them on to the semifinals where they lost to conference leader and regular season champions TCU 4-1.
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…Despite three conference wins last weekend, this is the first time in the past two years that the New Mexico Lobos has dropped out of the rankings. As the teams head into the MWC Championship tournament a total of four teams now remain in the rankings. BYU remains the conference leader after falling to the No. 31 position. TCU remains close to the Cougars, but still sits behind them at the No. 38 spot. SDSU fell back out of the top-50 after a loss to UNLV and now stand at No. 52. UNLV finishes the MWC teams in the rankings at No. 56.
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.