Goodman, Hernandez Tong Earn ITA Honors
TEMPE, Ariz. — The Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced its regional awards, and The University of New Mexico, coming off a 2019 Mountain West regular season championship, picked up a few awards. Robin Goodman, who is in his third season with the program, was named the Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year, and Ricky Hernandez Tong was named the Mountain Region’s Most Improved Senior award.
For Goodman, he becomes the fourth Lobo assistant coach to ever earn the honor, and it marked the seventh time UNM’s assistant coach was so honored. Loren Dills earned the award in 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2008, and then each of the last two UNM head coaches have earned the honor. Bart Scott was named the Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year in 2012 (Scott became UNM’s head coach for the 2014-15 season) and Ben Dunbar earned the honor in 2015, right before becoming head coach of the Lobos.
“Robin did a great job this year,” said head coach Ben Dunbar. “He’s a coach to watch in the future and brings so much to our program. I’m thankful to have him as a Lobo.”
Hernandez Tong is the first Lobo senior to earn Mountain Region Most Improved Senior honors. Hernandez Tong, who played at No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles for UNM was the 2018 Mountain Region champion in the Fall, becoming UNM’s first regional champion since 2003 when Divan Coetzee won the title. Hernandez Tong went 23-13 in singles, tying for the second-most wins on the team, and he was named First Team All-Mountain West in both singles and doubles. He went 13-10 in doubles on the year as well. Hernandez Tong finished his career with a singles record of 83-44. The 83 wins is the eighth-most singles wins in school history, and his .654 winning percentage is good for seventh among those with enough qualifying wins. He also went 57-39 in doubles, tying for 28th on the UNM doubles wins list.
“I’m so proud of Ricky and the senior year he put together. What’s cool about this award is it encompasses his hard work from playing No. 5 his freshman year to a nationally-ranked senior year,” said Dunbar, adding, “What a journey! This is a huge reward for his hard work.”
Both Goodman and Hernandez Tong were instrumental in UNM’s championship season in which the Lobos went undefeated in conference play, going a perfect 7-0.