Feb. 13, 2010
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The 50th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s tennis team will spend a decent portion of its Valentines’ Day on the court, hosting Abilene Christian Sunday, Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. The match will be held at the Linda Estes Tennis Center on south campus.
The Lobos (2-3) look to build some momentum after splitting a pair of matches this past weekend. New Mexico dominated No. 57 Middle Tennessee State, 7-1, last Friday before dropping a 4-3 heartbreaker to No. 63 Denver on Sunday. For their efforts, the Lobos maintained their No. 50 ITA national ranking.
OPPONENT SCOUTING REPORT
New Mexico has met the Abilene Christian only once, having defeated the Wildcats 9-0 back in 1985. Abilene Christian, a Division II program from the Lone Star Conference, is 2-1 on its spring season. The Wildcats have notched a 6-3 win against Oklahoma Christian and 8-1 win over Midwestern State, while losing 4-5 to Trinity.
The Wildcats play in Lubbock against Texas Tech on Saturday before traveling to Albuquerque for Sunday’s match. They wrapped up the 2009 season with a loss in the round of 16 at the NCAA Division II National Championships after winning the tournament after winning the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
The Wildcats set a team record for wins in a season last year (26) as they posted their sixth straight 20-win season. Senior Luke Hawk and a pair of sophomores – Eldad Campbell and John Strahl, lead ACU head coach Hutton Jones’ squad.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
UNM lost three key seniors in Johnny Parkes, Miles Bugby, and Graeme Kassautzki, and returns just one upperclassmen in junior Joe Wood. The Lobos welcome back a quartet of sophomores who saw plenty of action in 2008-09 in Ben Dunbar, Phil Anderson, Carl Ho and Matt Neeld. Jadon Phillips and Conor Berg are UNM’s newest additions, freshmen who were top junior players in their respective regions of the country as high school seniors. Ho ranks 16th in the Mountain region while Phillips comes in at No. 20.
DENVER RECAP
The 50th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s tennis team fell 4-3 to undefeated, 63rd-ranked Denver Sunday afternoon at the Linda Estes Tennis Center. The Pioneers improve to 6-0 overall while UNM drops to 2-3.”Both matches this weekend were against good teams,” head coach Alan Dils said. “We would have liked to have won both, but we knew that was going to be tough going in. I am happy where we are at. We are still young. We still have a lot to learn. We are working on them and getting better every match. Denver is a team we have a good rivalry with, so there is a lot of energy in the match and that is exactly what is going to happen every single match we play in conference. This is what gets us ready for that.”
Denver started strong by securing the doubles point. While the Pioneers took an easy victory at the No. 3 slot, 8-2, the Lobos put up a fight at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. Ben Dunbar and Jadon Phillips tied the match five times at the No. 2 hole, but their last tie would come at 5-5 before Yannick Weihs and Jens Vorkefeld took over to win, 8-6. While that win gave DU the doubles point, Carl Ho and Phil Anderson also went back and forth at the No. 1 slot before allowing five unanswered points to lose 8-3.
“I thought we were flat on doubles and let them come out and dictate what we were doing,” Dils said. “They came out and had more energy then we did. We were just kind of going out and hoping in doubles instead of making things happen.”With Denver up 1-0, freshman Phillips knotted the match at one-all with a 6-3, 6-3 win at the No. 3 spot. Phillips defeated Fabio Biasion to improve to 3-2 in dual singles this season. From there, Denver rapidly clinched two more points with wins at the No. 4 and No. 6 spots
Joe Wood cut the lead to 3-2 with a three-set win at the No. 5 position. Wood lost 4-6 in the opening set before blanking Vorkefeld, 6-0, in the second set and picking up a 7-5 third set win. It would not be enough, however, as Yannick Weihs captured the Denver win at the No. 1 spot over Ho. Ho opened the match with a 7-6 (7-4) first set win before dropping the next two, 6-1, 6-4.
2008-09 SEASON RECAP QUICK HITS
20-6 finish, second season with 20 wins
Best winning percentage since the 1984 season
Best start through 17 matches (15-2) since 1984
Ranked in the Top 45 nationally all season, including at a season-high No. 32, and finished at No.49
Won three matches to clinch the Mountain West Conference tournament championship
First NCAA team appearance since 2004 and 11th overall; Lost to Minnesota, 4-0, in the opening round
Johnny Parkes: MWC Player of the Year, ITA Regional Senior of the Year; 1-1 at the NCAA Singles Championship; finished career with all-time mark of 97-42, most singles wins by a Lobo
Head coach Alan Dils earned the MWC Coach of the Year and ITA Mountain Region Coach of the Year honors
Parkes and Graeme Kassautzki made All-MWC singles team; Parkes and Miles Bugby made All-MWC doubles
SERVING UP A CURE
The University of New Mexico men’s and women’s tennis teams are partnering up with the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (ALSA) to help in the fight against ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The tennis teams will coordinate a season-long campaign, Serving Up A Cure, to help raise money for ALS research.
Serving Up A Cure will allow people to get involved in a couple of different ways. Donors can pledge money per match or per set won for either the men’s or women’s tennis teams. Forms to make donations and instructions for submitting them can be found at GOLOBOS.com on either the men’s or women’s tennis page.
ALS affects adults of all ages, sexes and races. Every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and every 90 minutes someone dies from this disease. There is no known cause or cure and the cost for an ALS patient is $200,000 per year.
Please help the men’s and women’s tennis teams fight against ALS. For more information contact Roy Cañada at rcanada@unm.edu or at 925-5780.