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Second MW Freshman of the Week Honors for Sysoev

by Frank Mercogliano

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Last year with five freshmen playing in the lineup, it was a chore after a successful weekend to figure out whom to nominate for Mountain West Freshman of the Week.  In the end, four Lobos, Arda Azkara, Aram Noroozian, Jan Pucalka and Georgio Samaha each earned the honor.

This year, UNM has just one, and he is starting to hoard the award.  Nikolay Sysoev, who didn’t play a match in the fall season, improved to 2-0 on the year with a big win at New Mexico State, and he was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week that UNM played.  Sysoev earned the Award two weeks ago after UNM’s opening weekend.  The team didn’t play the following week.

Sysoev, who made his collegiate debut with a win at No. 3 singles against Gonzaga, moved up to No. 2 singles against New Mexico State and gave UNM a commanding 3-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jordy Visser.  That win pushed Sysoev to 2-0 in singles on the year.

The Lobos are on the road this week at BYU on Thursday and Utah on Friday.