April 24, 2007
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THIS WEEK IN LOBO MEN’S TENNIS: New Mexico (14-8, 3-3 MWC) tied for third in the conference standings with UNLV (10-13, 3-3 MWC), but the Rebels earned the No. 3 seed for the MWC Championship by virtue of their win over the 55th-ranked Lobos in regular-season competition. The tournament will be held April 26-28, at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
The fourth-seeded Lobos open quarterfinal action Thursday, April 26, with fifth-seeded BYU. Semifinals are slated for Friday, April 27 with the championship on Saturday, April 28.
Regular-season champion and 47th-ranked San Diego State enters the 2007 Mountain West Conference Men’s Tennis Championship as the No. 1 seed after posting an unblemished 6-0 record in conference play (16-7 overall). TCU, ranked 68th nationally, finished with a 5-1 mark against league opponents (9-11 overall) and will claim the No. 2 seed.
A tie break was also necessary to determine the No. 5 and 6 seeds, with 74th-ranked BYU (11-13, 2-4 MWC) claiming the No. 5 spot over Utah (12-10, 2-4 MWC) based on the Cougars’ regular-season win over the Utes. Air Force (11-15, 0-6 MWC) rounds out the bracket as the No. 7 seed.
Action at the 2007 MWC Championship gets underway Thursday, April 26 with No. 4 New Mexico and No. 5 BYU taking the court at 9 a.m. Mountain Time, followed by No. 3 UNLV vs. No. 6 Utah at 12 noon MT and No. 2 TCU vs. No. 7 Air Force at 3 p.m. MT. The top-seeded Aztecs received a quarterfinal bye and will await the winner of the New Mexico/BYU match. Semifinal contests will be played at 10 a.m. MT and 2 p.m. MT on Friday, April 27, with the championship match set for 2 p.m. MT on Saturday, April 28.
2007 MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRINGS
Thursday, April 26
9 a.m. MT – Quarterfinal Match #1 — No. 4 New Mexico vs. No. 5 BYU
Noon MT – Quarterfinal Match #2 — No. 3 UNLV vs. No. 6 Utah
3 p.m. MT – Quarterfinal Match #3 — No. 2 TCU vs. No. 7 Air Force
Friday, April 27
10 a.m. MT – Semifinal Match #1 — No. 1 San Diego State vs. UNM/BYU Winner
2 p.m. MT – Semifinal Match #2 — UNLV/Utah Winner vs. TCU/AFA Winner
Saturday, April 28
2 p.m. MT – Championship Match
LOOKING AT THE LOBOS: New Mexico, 14-8 overall, concluded the Mountain West Conference regular season 3-3 overall but were saddled with the fourth seed in the up-coming tournament as UNLV (10-13 overall, 3-3 MWC) posted the same record but earned the higher seed with their regular season win over the Lobos.
In singles, Graeme Kassautzki and Miles Bugby are the overall winningest Lobos this season while Chris and Johnny Parkes have had the most success in dual matches. Chris Parkes, playing in just the spring semester, is 16-3 in dual matches, including a 2-0 mark at No. 4 and 6-0 record at No. 6. Johnny Parkes, 23-13 overall and 16-7 in dual matches, is 9-5 at No. 2 while also seeing time at Nos. 1 and 3. Kassautzki, a team-leading 29-11 overall, is 15-7 in dual matches thanks to his 6-2 mark at No. 2 and 7-4 record at No. 3. Bugby, 27-13 overall, is 15-8 in dual matches, going 11-7 at No. 4.
The Lobos have struggled in doubles this season unlike any other before. They have lost the doubles point 10 times this season, including two sweeps. The three winningest tandems for UNM this season have been Max Jones and Kamil Pajkowski (18-9 overall, 9-5 dual), Johnny Parkes and Bugby (13-8 overall, 4-6 dual), and Kassautzki and Joe Nicolazzi (11-7 overall, 4-2 dual).
REVIEWING THE COUGARS: BYU, 12-13 overall and 2-4 in the MWC, finished the regular season winning two straight and three of its last four matches. The Cougars started conference play 0-3 but rallied with a 7-0 shutout at Air Force and a 4-3 win against Utah. They tied for fifth in the MWC with the Utes and claimed the fifth seed off their regular season win.
BYU is led in singles action by 109th-ranked James Ludlow, Dominik Kaufhold and Christian Hand. Ludlow is 20-13 overall but just 8-11 in dual matches at No. 1. Kaufhold is 17-13 overall and 9-7 at No. 2 while Hand is 22-9 and 14-5 at No. 3.
In doubles, Kaufhold teams with Ludlow at No. 1, going 11-11 in dual matches and 17-13 overall. Hand, paired with Jonathan Sanchez at No. 2, is 12-8 and 2-0 at No. 2 for a dual match record of 14-8 and an overall record of 20-11.
HISTORY LESSONS: BYU holds a 27-24-1 all-time series lead but New Mexico has won two straight, both this season. The first time this two teams met in 2007 was Jan. 20 at the ITA/Mountain Regional Indoor Playoff. The Lobos won 4-0, playing singles matches only. Two months later the programs met again in San Diego, Calif. on March 30. The Cougars jumped out in front, winning doubles but the Lobos responded, taking four of the six singles matches again.
This season, Johnny Parkes, Miles Bugby and Kamil Pajkowski are all undefeated against BYU. Parkes, at No. 2, beat Christian Hand in two sets in Jan. and topped Dominik Kaufhold in two sets in March. Bugby, at No. 4, defeated Cale Planck in two sets and then topped Jonathan Sanchez in three sets. Kamil Pajkowski netted wins over Cassidy Mears at No. 5 and Planck at No. 6. However, Mears and Hand are the only two Cougars to earn wins in singles vs. UNM this season.
MWC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: Since the Mountain West Conference tennis championship began in 2000, the Lobos have posted an 8-5 record, winning two championship titles (2000 & 2004).
The Lobos have faced San Diego State the most in the conference tournament, going 3-1. They are 2-0 against UNLV and Utah and 1-1 against Air Force. The only team UNM has a losing conference championship record against is this year’s opponent, BYU. The Lobos are 1-2 against BYU in the tournament, including an eliminating loss in the opening round of last year’s championship.
UNM has lost its last two appearances, exiting both in the first round.
IN THE RANKINGS: Four of the seven Mountain West Conference teams earned rankings in the Fila/ITA National Poll, led by San Diego State at No. 47. New Mexico is the second highest at No. 55 while TCU is No. 68 and BYU is No. 74.
In singles rankings, the conference is represented by five men from five different schools. SDSU’s Markus Dickhardt tops the list at No. 38, followed by No. 47 Zach Ganger (Utah), No. 71 Elliot Wronski (UNLV), No. 103 Cosmin Cotet (TCU) and No. 109 James Ludlow (BYU).
Three doubles team represent three different MWC institutions, led by the Aztecs’ No. 22 pair in Dickhardt and Christian Groh. TCU’s Kriegler Brink and Cotet rank No. 43 while Utah’s Ganger and Miron Mann come in at No. 52.