ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The UNM women’s tennis team faces off against the Montana State Bobcats of the Big Sky Conference for its first home match of the season on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. in the Linda Estes Indoor Tennis Bubbles. The team just shouldn’t get used to it.
The match is UNM’s only non-conference home match of the year, and it’s just one of three at home overall. So it features the best chance to see the team in action at home for a while, and it’s a team that is showing that its worthy of watching.
Featuring the ITA Mountain Region doubles champs in Leonie Hoppe and Katherine Jhang, the Lobos enter their match 2-0 on the young season, but sporting a gaudy 65-43 combined singles record among its eight players. That’s good for a .602 winning percentage, and UNM is even better in doubles. There, the Lobos are playing .608 tennis, going 31-20 overall.
Montana State should pose a stiffer test then UNM’s opening week competition, as the Bobcats come in at 2-1 on the season with wins over Chicago State (6-1) and Lewis-Clark State (4-1) and a 4-1 loss to Boise State.
For UNM, Sarah O’Connor opened the spring playing at No. 1, and earned her first two career wins there over the weekend. With transfers Hoppe, Maud Vandeputte and Jhang playing well, the always steady play of Sataho Toriumi and Hsuan Huang and the quick emergence of sophomores Maria Sodre and Sofia Taborga (who have a 20-11 singles record between them), it gives head coach Vicky Maes a lot of lineup flexibility. That showed in the opening weekend as UNM only had two players, O’Connor and Jhang, play in the same slot for singles.
NOTES: After this match UNM heads on the road for three in Texas, facing Abilene Christian, Tyler JC and Lamar.