ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team in 2015 won the Mountain West tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Now, the look to repeat that same pair of feats, and it starts Friday when the squad opens its Spring season Friday afternoon at home against Colorado at 5 p.m.
Head Coach Kelcy McKenna is in her first year as the head coach of the Lobos after previously serving as the associate head coach.
The Lobos start their season with three straight home matches before heading to Minneapolis, MN, for the Courtside Classic. They will have five more home matches throughout the season.
The squad will be led by Andrea Leblanc who went 16-3 in singles play during her Fall season, earning her a No. 6 ranking in the ITA Mountain Region in singles play. This is her first year playing for UNM after transferring from Morehead State. Leblanc and teammate Rachana Bhat also went 4-0 in the Fall to earn a No. 5 ranking in doubles.
Also key for this year’s squad is Emily Olivier. Olivier competed in the number one slot for the Lobos in singles play, going 7-6 overall. Freshman Ruth Copas started her Lobo career with ten consecutive wins and went 16-2.
This year’s No. 63 ranked team lost two starters from last season but gained Copas, Leblanc and another junior transfer in former VCU Ram Ludivine Burguiere. Burguiere went 6-1 during her singles play and won her flight at the Aggie Invitational.
The Lobos also return Rachana Bhat, Sharon Coone, Dominique Dulski and Emily Olivier for the 2015-16 season. Those four all played vital roles in the squad’s trek to the Mountain West title. Bhat, Dulski and Olivier all have two years as starters under their belts and will look to be the leaders for McKenna, as her squad has no seniors on the roster.
In the Fall, Leblanc and Copas tie for the lead in singles wins with 16. The two were followed by Bhat and Coone , who each have 11 singles wins.
After a challenging regular season schedule, the Lobos will head to the Mountain West Championships in late April in Fort Collins, Colo. Later in May they hope to make it to their second straight NCAA Tournament.