Women's Tennis Heads to Flagstaff for Two
2019-20 Season Statistics | Livestats vs. NAU
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — At least the matches are Friday and Saturday. The UNM Lobo women’s tennis team will be back on the road for the fourth weekend out of five to open the 2020 season when the squad heads to Flagstaff, Arizona to take on a pair of Big Sky Conference teams. UNM will face the Montana Grizzlies in a neutral site match on Friday at 10 a.m. before taking on host NAU Saturday, also at 10 a.m.
The Lobos are coming off a split weekend in California, where they faced off against a pair of good opponents and came out 1-1, winning at CSUN (formerly Cal State Northridge) 4-3 and then losing at Cal State Fullerton 4-3. The Lobos are 2-4 on the season and four of the six matches have finished at 4-3, including three losses.
Montana is 1-6 on the season, and it will play Northern Arizona on Thursday prior to the UNM match. Its lone win on the season was a 5-2 win over Grand Canyon in Missoula. Northern Arizona’s season has been nearly identical to UNM’s. The Lumberjacks are 2-4 overall, with three of the four losses coming by 4-3 scores, losing to Oregon, BYU and Arizona by that margin. They also have a 5-2 loss to Arizona State. They do have a 5-2 win over Mountain West compatriot Utah State.
UNM has gotten some consistency from doubles and the bottom of the lineup. In doubles, the No. 2 tandem of Sara Kuuttila-Webbert and Myu Kageyama have been unstoppable, going a perfect 6-0. The No. 3 team of Danielle Quevedo and Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang are 2-1 there.
Those two also have been winning the most in the singles lineup as well. Huang has won six straight matches and is perfect in the spring at No. 6 singles, and Quevedo has three wins at No. five singles, tying her for the spring lead with Huang and Bronte Murgett. Murgett’s three wins are at No. 2 singles.
So far UNM has winning records in singles at three positions, and losing records at the other three, meaning every match should be close, and they have been. Now, with just three more weekend sets before conference play, head coach Vicky Maes is now looking for consistency as well as results. Last year, it was around this time that the Lobos hit their stride on the way to a 12-9 record and a 3-1 Mountain Division record.
“Looking at our schedule, we know that wins will never come easy … we just need to keep grinding,” said Maes. “We’ve been getting better with each match and experience, and that’s what we are focusing on.”
In a change for 2020, UNM will play all 10 other Mountain West teams to determine a true regular season champion. UNM has five non-conference matches remaining, including its home opener next Thursday at noon against BYU, before conference play starts.