ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – University of New Mexico men’s tennis player Bart Van Leijsen has been named the 2015 Mountain West Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Year, the conference announced on Wednesday evening.
Van Leijsen (Drenthe, Netherlands) joined the Lobos in the fall and made an immediate impact on the team. During the fall 2014 season, Van Leijsen posted a 7-2 singles record, 10-2 doubles record. In October, Van Leijsen became the first UNM men’s tennis player to reach a regional championship match as a freshman as he reached the final doubles match of the USTA/ITA Mountain Regionals with teammate James Hignett.
Van Leijsen’s success on the court carried over into the spring season. The Lobo freshman tallied a 10-8 dual match singles record during the regular season, playing primarily in the No. 4 spot for UNM. However it was Van Leijsen’s doubles performance that really allowed him to have a standout spring season. Van Leijsen and teammate Hayden Sabatka posted an impressive 12-2 doubles record this spring playing in the No. 1 spot. The duo is currently ranked No. 51 nationally.
Van Leijsen is heading into the MW Conference Championships with an overall 17-10 singles record, 22-7 doubles record. This is the second straight year that the Lobos have had a player earn the MW Freshman of the Year award as Sabatka received the honor last season.
The Lobos also had three players earn MW All-Conference honors on Wednesday evening. Van Leijsen and Sabatka were named All-Conference for their success in doubles play.
Sabatka also received All-MW honors for his success in singles play along with senior Samir Iftikhar (ranked No. 98 nationally). Sabatka and Iftikhar have led the Lobos in the No. 1 and No. 2 positions this season. Sabatka holds a combined spring and fall singles record of 15-14 while Iftikhar holds a record of 12-9.
This is Sabatka’s second All-MW honor in singles and Iftikhar’s third All-MW honor in singles.
The top-seeded Lobos take on eighth-seeded Air Force on Thursday evening in the quarterfinals of the MW Championships at 6 p.m. MT at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium.
Twitter: @UNMMenTennis | Facebook: Facebook.com/UNM.Men.Tennis
2014-15 Men’s Tennis All-Mountain West Team
Singles
Grant Taylor, Sr., Air Force
Garrett Patton, Sr., Boise State
Euan McIntosh, So., Fresno State
*Moez Chargui, Sr., Nevada
*Hayden Sabatka, So., New Mexico
**Sam Iftikhar, Sr., New Mexico
Freddy Gelbrich, Jr., San Diego State
Hendrik Jebens, So., San Diego State
**Ace Matias, Sr., UNLV
*Denys Pume, So., UNLV
Karan Salwan, So., Utah State
Dennis Baumgartner, So., Utah State
Doubles
+Grant Taylor/Lucas Gumagalli, Air Force
^Thomas Tenreiro/Lewis Roskilly, Boise State
Adam Glynn/Euan McIntosh, Fresno State
Hayden Sabatka/Bart Van Leijsen, New Mexico
Freddy Gelbrich/Hendrik Jebens, San Diego State
#Ace Matias/Adam Gage-Brown, UNLV