Men’s Tennis Adds Two for 2020 Season
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After a stellar Fall individual season that saw UNM get a regional semifinalist in both singles and doubles, head coach Ben Dunbar has added two more student-athletes to the team in time for the spring season, both top-ranked players in their respective countries. Rafael Abdul Salam of Caracas, Venezuela and Sergio Molina of Mexicali, Mexico have signed GIA papers will be on the 2020 squad.
The Lobo men’s tennis team is the defending regular season Mountain West champions, and the team returned four of the top five players in the rotation from last year. The additions of Salam and Molina give the team nine players on the 2020 team.
“We are very excited to have Rafael and Sergio join the Lobo family. Both men were very impressed with our world class facilities and team camaraderie in the recruiting process. I have no doubt both will be great student athletes here at UNM, they both bring extensive tennis resumes where they have played internationally with great success. We have a very strong group of Lobos here on campus already who have been working extremely hard this Fall and I know that Sergio and Rafa will add things to the team and bring lots of experience as they try to adapt to this new college tennis environment. I know they will have a very positive impact this spring and in their four-year careers as Lobos. The Lobo Tennis fans out there should be excited at the prospect of watching these new guys and the exciting returners and freshman who have been here this Fall.”
Rafael is currently ranked No. 195 in the world junior rankings, and he has been ranked as high as No. 183 on the junior circuit. He recorded an 8-2 record in 2019 vs U.S. Blue Chip Recruits as rated by tennis recruiting.net and he went 41-9 on the year on the ITF Junior Tour.
Additionally, Abdul Salam has been ranked #1 junior in Venezuela and he won the G3 Santo Domingo ITF tournament in July 2019, held in the Dominican Republic, without dropping a set during the event. Rafael, who goes by Rafa, believes he plays his best tennis on the U.S. hard courts (which is the same surface at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium. He went 29-3 on hard courts in 2019 as compared to 12-6 on the red clay. He currently has UTR of 12.6, having peaked at 12.62 at the end of November.
“We are so excited that Rafa has decided to be a Lobo. He truly has all the characteristics we look for in the recruiting process, he is a young man of integrity and class who loves to work hard. You can look at his social media pages to see he is a tennis fanatic and his results in the last year have been very impressive on the international ITF circuit,” said Dunbar. “We believe we can help him transition his game to college and in the future onto the pro tour and he will truly have all the resources he needs here at UNM to be able to make those improvements. Speaking to Rafa, he already has a great passion for UNM and in our messages he shares lots of Lobo passion. We are excited to have him on campus this spring and watch him develop in our program for years to come.”
The other top-ranked player is Sergio Molina, who has been ranked No. 1 in the Mexican national junior rankings. He has also competed extensively in Southern California over the years, having been ranked as high as the No. 2 recruit in the United States in 2016 when he was rated as a blue-chip prospect during his sophomore year in high school. He has represented Mexico in the prestigious junior Davis Cup competition, and he has also been a practice partner for the full Mexican Davis Cup team.
Molina made the final of the 103rd La Jolla Tennis Championships in San Diego this past summer, beating several current college tennis players along the way. He currently holds a UTR of 12.53 having been as high as a 13.17 this past summer.
“Sergio is a great pickup for us. His junior results and rankings speak for themselves and we see our role in providing Sergio with the very best training environment in order to allowed him to excel at that level once again. He was a blue-chip recruit in 2015, 2016 and 2017 who has been playing at a very high level here in the U.S. and in Mexico for a long time now,” said Dunbar. “He is a recruit that is looking to use UNM as a springboard to potential pro aspirations in the future. We have no doubt that he will make the most of this opportunity to join our family and develop his game at this level. Sergio has a great lefty forehand and we look forward to helping him develop in any way we can help.”
Molina and Abdul Salam will join up with the team for preseason in January and look to make an impact on the 2020 Spring season. The Lobos are shaping up for a great spring season. The first home match is February 8 at noon against perennial regional rival BYU.