Lobos Sweep MW Men's Tennis Awards Again

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. —- For the second time in four weeks, the Lobos have swept the Mountain West Tennis Awards.  This time it’s with a whole different crew.  Transfer Arthur Bellegy went 3-0 in singles on the week, including his first career Division I match at No. 1, and Avery Tallakson went 2-0 in doubles and won his dual singles debut as Bellegy was named Mountain West Player of the Week and Tallakson was named Mountain West Freshman of the Week.

The pair became UNM’s second duo this season to sweep the league honors as Arda Azkara and Nicolas Recoura were named Player and Freshman of the Week after UNM’s season-opening win in the Second Annual Jack Kennedy Classic.

Bellegy becomes the first Lobo other than Azkara to win Player of the Week since Dominic West did it April 14, 2021.  Overall under third-year head coach Chris Russell, UNM has won the Mountain West Player of the Week award six times, and Freshman of the Week Award nine times, with tht award won by seven players.

Bellegy had a pair of clinching wins on Sunday alone as a part of his 3-0 week in which UNM defeated Louisiana 6-1, Utah 4-0 and Western New Mexico 7-0.  Against Utah his 6-3, 6-3 win over Dylan Applegate finished off a 4-0 shutout of Utah, and then he moved into the No. 1 slot for the first time as a Lobo, winning 6-1, 6-2 over Romain Malhomme of Western New Mexico to clinch UNM’s eventual 7-0 win.

Tallakson won both of his doubles matches at No. 3 doubles to give UNM the first leg of the doubles point against both Louisiana and Utah, and against Western New Mexico, he made his debut in the singles lineup, winning by a perfect score of 6-0, 6-0 against Lorenzo Buratti for his first singles win of the spring season.

The Lobos, who are 5-2 and have won four in a row, head to the midwest to face Wichita State on Friday and UTSA in Wichita on Saturday.