Azkara, Recoura Sweep MW Tennis Awards
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — One week of tennis action, one week of sweeping awards.
New Mexico swept the weekly Mountain West awards, with Arda Azkara earning Mountain West Player of the Week honors, and freshman Nicolas Recoura earning Freshman of the Week honors. It marked the fifth time in his career that Azkara was named Mountain West Player of the Week, and Recoura’s award marked the eighth time in Chris Russell’s three seasons as head coach that a Lobo has earned Mountain West Freshman of the Week. Recoura is the sixth Lobo to earn the honor.
Azkara went perfect in singles and 1-1 in doubles as he led the way for UNM to take the title of the Jack Kennedy Classic. His doubles win on Sunday over ETSU clinched the doubles point as UNM would eventually sweep all three doubles matches and all six singles matches on that day. His 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 win in which he broke opponent Dimitri Badra in the 12th and final game, the only break of the set, helped Azkara run his home record in his career at No. 1 singles to a perfect 20-0.
Recoura went 2-0, playing at No. 2 doubles with Georgio Samaha. On Friday, Recoura’s 6-3 win was UNM’s only doubles win, and on Sunday, he took a 6-4 win over the NCAA’s No. 55 doubles tandem of Barda and Francisco Lamas.
