Sept. 21, 2011
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — This past weekend the UNM Women’s Tennis Team competed in the Midland Collegiate Invitational, but there was more to that than just what meets the eye. The Lobos who competed played against some of the toughest teams in the country, such as Tulsa and Pepperdine. Some of the women ran a tennis clinic at the Tanoan Country Club in Albuquerque for middle school children and adults. In addition, the team also had one Lobo compete in an ITF Qualifying Tournament held at the Tanoan Country Club where her teammates were conducting the tennis clinic.
The coaches and the players were very excited to be competing against top-notched players from Texas Tech, Pepperdine, UT-Arlington, Nebraska, Tulsa, Texas A&M, Rice, LSU, and TCU. The tournament was an overall success in the fact that the players received valuable experience against some of the top-ranked teams in the country. The fact that the team was able to gain wins against some of the players from these top schools is a reward in itself.
“Midland was a good start to our fall season,” Assistant coach Michelle Heidbrink said. “We are already seeing improvement from last spring with individual wins over players we lost to last year, as well as some solid wins over players from Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Pepperdine.”
Some of the Lobos who did not compete in the Midland Tournament contributed to the Albuquerque community by teaching others how to play tennis. They hosted two different clinics for children and adults at the Tanoan Country Club. The youth clinic had a remarkable turn-out with middle school youth from all over New Mexico participating in it. The adult clinic hosted by the Lobos involved doing drills and learning new strategies for the players.
Every year, the UNM Women’s Tennis program has one player receive a wildcard into the Qualifying round of a professional tournament held in Albuquerque annually. Michaela Bezdickova won the Lobo Labor Day Tournament at the beginning of this month, and received the honor of playing as an amateur in a professional tournament. Her opponent, once ranked as high as 82 in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association), in the qualifying match was Romana Tedjakusuma. She lost the match with a score of 6-1 6-4.
The coaches were extremely proud of the way Bezdickova represented UNM in the tournament, along with those who ran the clinic and who competed in the Midland Collegiate Tournament.
“She [Michaela Bezdickova] played really well dominating practically every point and just needs to learn how to put the ball away,” Head Coach Roy Canada said. “Overall, this past weekend was a great representation for the Lobos on the college scene and in the community.”