Jan. 24, 2008
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team will face against No. 7 Northwestern Saturday at 5 p.m. The Wildcats are the highest ranked team to ever come to Albuquerque. The match is at the Lobo Tennis Club and there is no charge for admission.
The Lobos, ranked No. 67, are coming off an upset over No. 38 Colorado. After falling behind 1-0, losing all three doubles matches, UNM won four of six singles to win the dual 4-3. New Mexico took time to play an exhibition on Wednesday against Monterrey Tech and squeezed out a 4-2 win.
Sophomore Sandra Zmak, ranked No. 85, is the lone ranked player on the Lobos squad. She has played at No. 3 in the line-up for both dual matches this season. Against Vanderbilt Zmak took No. 13 Courtney Ulery to three sets before falling 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Against Colorado Zmak forced Camila Belasi to a tiebreaker in the first set and then had a 4-3 lead in the second set but Belasi came away with one of the two singles victories 7-5, 6-4.
Lobo juniors Mackenzie White and Ola Abou-Zekry shared the top two spots and each finished 1-1 after both won their No. 2 match last weekend.
The Lobo freshmen lent a helping hand last weekend. Victoria Tessmar gave the Lobos one of the two points against Vanderbilt. UNM did not get two points against a top-40 team last season. Emma Hayman ignored all the pressure and sealed the deal against Colorado with a three set (7-6, 2-6, 6-3) victory over Gleisy Torres-Torres.
Northwestern, ranked No. 7, is coming off a 7-0 sweep of No. 15 William and Mary. The Wildcats finished the 2007 season 24-5, making it into the round of 16 at the NCAAs.
The Wildcats bring a wealth of ranked players to town. The team boasts five ranked singles players, including three in the top-20 along with three doubles teams. Freshman Maria Mosolova is the No. 2 ranked player in the country. Junior Georgia Rose is at No. 9 while sophomore Samantha Murray breaks in at No. 20. Sophomores Lauren Lui and Nazlie Ghazal are No. 68 and No. 99 respectively. Lui and Murray pair up for a No. 7 ranking while Ghazal and Suzie Matzenauer come in at 37th. Tied at 50th is the pair of Alexis Conill and Keri Robinson. A total of eight players are in the rankings.
The Lobos get a break from ranked opponents when they hit the road to battle, in state rivals, New Mexico State on Feb. 3. The next home match is Feb. 7 against Idaho.