ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —The University of New Mexico Lobos (0-4) continue the 2017 season with a pair of matches against Power-5 schools. The Lobos will head to Salt Lake City to take on the Utah Utes (0-1) on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. The next morning, the Lobos will play a neutral site match against the Wisconsin Badgers (3-3).
The Coaches
The University of New Mexico Lobos are coached by Stephanie Wooten-Quijada, who is in her first season with New Mexico. She came to UNM from UT-Rio Grande Valley where she led the Vaqueros to a WAC Tournament title. Her coaching career also includes one season stints at UTRGV and Stephen F. Austin. Utah is coached by Matt Iandolo, who is in his eighth season with Utah after 14 as the head coach at Purdue, where he actually coached Wooten-Quijada. Wisconsin is coached by Kelcy McKenna, who is in her first season with the Badgers after coaching New Mexico last year.
Series History
UNM is 18-16 against Utah and 2-2 against Wisconsin.
Following Along
There are no livestats for this weekend for either match.
About Utah
Utah hasn’t played much tennis yet in the Spring, as they are just 0-1 on the season, losing 5-2 to Fresno State on the road. Junior Alexia Petrovic and Freshman Whitney Turley each picked up a singles victory for Utah. Petrovic came back from a first-set loss to defeat Emma Wilson, 2-6, 7-6, 10-5. Turley defeated Olivia Noble in two sets, 6-3, 6-4. Petrovic played at No. 3 singles and Wilson at No. 6 singles. Utah lost the doubles point despite getting a win at No. 1 doubles from Margo Pletcher and Brianna Turley.
About Wisconsin
Wisconsin is 3-3 on the season with wins over Colorado State (7-0), Marquette (4-3) and Xavier (5-2) and losses to Marshall (7-0), North Texas (4-3) and Oklahoma (4-0). Wisconsin has lost two in a row and is 3-0 at home and 0-3 outside of Madison. Junior Kelsey Grambeau and Christina Zordani were the only two Badgers to post singles wins last weekend. Grambeau is now 3-2 playing primarily at the No. 2 spot, while Zordani is now 3-3 in the dual season.
SWQ Better Have an iPhone 7 To Take Fun Photos With
For New Mexico head coach Stephanie Wooten-Quijada, this week might be a little more interesting than any other. Sure her team has played a great schedule so far, but this weekend is like a reunion of sorts. It starts on Friday when UNM plays Utah. With the Lobos and the Utes go way back (it’s the 35th meeting), Wooten-Quijada will be facing off against her former collegiate coach. Matt Iandolo, prior to Utah, was the head coach at Purdue, where Wooten-Quijada (she was just Wooten back then) played.
Then on Saturday, Wooten-Quijada and her team face off against the coach who had a head in recruiting many of the current team, as Wisconsin is coached by Kelcy McKenna. McKenna was an assistant coach from 2013 through 2015, and then was the head coach for the 2015-16 season before taking over Wisconsin on July 1. McKenna’s exit made it possible for Wooten-Quijada to take over at New Mexico from UTRGV (that’s The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, which used to be The University of Texas Pan American).
Getting the Gang Back Together
Finally, everyone is back and has played. Kinda.
All eight players on the squad have now been in the lineup in the Spring, although UNM has still been slowed by the injury/illness bug to exactly half the team. Also hurting New Mexico is where they have been playing. So far, the Lobos haven’t been able to play matches all the way through (except at Colorado) due to the lack of indoor courts at Georgia and Denver. It’s hurt UNM a bit as Cassie Chung would probably be 2-0 already in the Spring, as she was leading in both of her matches that were stopped.
Two of New Mexico’s 4-0 losses would have either ended 5-2 or 4-3 with full courts available. That shouldn’t be an issue for this weekend as Utah has eight courts available indoors.