Ruth Copas Named All-Mountain West in Singles
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Ruth Copas, a senior from Dundalk, Ireland was named to the All-Mountain West tennis team for singles, as the league announced its postseason honors on the morning of the start of the Mountain West Tournament in San Diego. That Copas, who has been playing No. 1 singles for UNM, made it is no shocker. That fact that she was the only Lobo on the team is a little more telling.
The 16-person singles team and 16 person/8 team doubles honorees for the league found just Copas on the team for UNM, despite the Lobos winning the Mountain Division title and earning a No. 4 seed in the conference tournament. UNM’s lone representative tied with San Jose State (the No. 8) seed, for the fewest all-conference honorees.
Copas, the unquestioned leader on the team as not only the only senior but the only upperclassman, has gone 14-15 on the season, with several key wins, including a match clincher in a third-set tiebreaker on senior day against New Mexico State, a match in which she forced the tiebreaker despite being down 5-2 in the third. The shocker is somehow Bronte Murgett, who plays at No. 2 for UNM and has an 18-4 record didn’t make the team in singles, and she and partner Natasha Munday didn’t make it in doubles either despite a gaudy 15-1 record.
The Lobos, lead by Copas, will take on Wyoming in the quarterfinals on Thursday morning at 10 Pacific/11 Mountain.
All-Mountain West Singles:
TJ Fumagalli, Jr. (No. 1) Air Force
Lilian Poling, Jr. (NO. 1-2) Boise State
Wilhelmina Palmer, So, (No. 1-2) Boise State
Stella Cliffe, Jr. (No. 2) Colorado State
Emily Luetschwager, So. (No. 1) Colorado State
Shir Azran, Fr. (No. 1-6) Fresno State
Jennifer Timotin, Fr. (No. 1-2) Fresno State
Ruth Copas, Sr. (No. 1) New Mexico
Nnena Nadozie, So. (No. 2-3) San Diego State
Shakhnoza Khatamova, Fr. (No. 1) San Diego State
Miyo Kobayashi, Sr. (No. 2) San José State
Aiwen Zhu, Sr. (No. 1) UNLV
Izumi Asano, So. (No. 2) UNLV
En-Pei Huang Jr. (No. 3) UNLV
Sasha Pisareva, So. (No. 1) Utah State
Tessa van Der Ploeg, Sr. (No. 1) Wyoming
All-Mountain West Doubles:
TJ Fumagalli/Kristin Kerrigan (No. 1), Air Force
Lilian Poling/Wilhelmina Palmer (No. 1), Boise State
Emily Kolbow/Stella Cliffe (No. 1) Colorado State
Georgia Lawson/Jennifer Timotin (No. 1) Fresno State
Nnena Nadozie/Alicia Melosch (No. 1) San Diego State
Aiwen Zhu/En-Pei Huang (No. 1) UNLV
Hannah Jones/Alexandra Taylor (No. 1) Utah State
Tessa van Der Ploeg/Elisa Koonik (No. 1) Wyoming
Player of the Year: Aiwen Zhu, UNLV
Freshman of the Year: Shakhnoza Khatamova, San Diego State