Sunday, 2/21 – vs. Abilene Christian, 1 pm
Monday, 2/22 – at Texas Tech, 10 am – Live Scoring
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Compared to what has been going on in Texas over the last few days, UNM’s women’s tennis teams’ trip to Lubbock Texas to take on Abilene Christian and Texas Tech will be downright balmy, with highs reaching nearly 50 on Sunday and 58 on Monday. UNM head coach Vicky Maes hopes her team can continue to play hot as well.
The Lobos head to Lubbock for two matches that have been delayed a couple of times due to the dangerous weather conditions, but everything should be good to go for matches this week. The Lobos will take on Abilene Christian in Lubbock at 1 p.m. Mountain Time on Sunday and then face off with Texas Tech at 10 a.m. Mountain Time on Monday. Monday’s match vs. Texas Tech will have a livestream if the weather allows for the match to be played outdoors.
The Lobos are coming off a solid opening week in Colorado facing a pair of Division II opponents, beating Metro State 5-2 and CSU-Pueblo 7-0. The win over Metro State was played outdoors in well, Texas-like weather, with the temperature just above freezing at the start and snow flurries by the time it ended, dipping to 19 degrees. From there, UNM swept CSU-Pueblo, losing just eight games in the process. Things will be a little mode formidable in Texas.
Against Abilene Christian, UNM faces a team that is 3-5 but like UNM, on a two-match winning streak, having won 5-2 over Tarleton State and 7-0 over Texas-Permian Basin. The Wildcats haven’t left Texas for any of its matches yet. ACU has played particularly well in doubles, picking off nine wins so far. Allison Stewart and Sylvia Viljoen have won three straight at No. 2 and their top two singles players, Maryjoe Crisologo and Nini Memishishi have won three straight at No. 3.
For UNM, the Lobos are still figuring out their lineup, but Natasha Munday and Yue Lin “Polly” Chen have held down the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots, and the lineup moved around quite a bit after that. UNM coach Vicky Maes also moved the doubles teams around, still working on pairings and ladder placement. The Lobos will be ACU’s second match that day as they will face Texas Tech in the morning.
For Monday, Texas Tech will bring a 4-1 record into the matchup. The Red Raiders are coming off a 4-3 win at home against Arizona State. Tech’s only loss of the season was a 4-3 loss to Rice.