Lobos Take Four-Match Win Streak to Midwest

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico takes on Wichita State and UTSA in Kansas in a pair of matches on Friday and Saturday in Wichita, Kansas looking to continue a four-match winning streak.

The Lobos had a winning weekend at home with wins over Louisiana (6-1), Utah (4-0) and Western New Mexico (7-0).  That weekend saw a pair of Lobos honored with Mountain West awards as Arthur Bellegy was the Mountain West Player of the Week and Avery Tallakson was the Freshman of the Week.  Bellegy joined Arda Azkara as Lobos to be honored with Player of the Week honors this year, and he was the first Lobo to win Mountain West Player of the Week other than Azkara since the 2021 season.

Tallakson is now the seventh Lobo under head coach Chris Russell to earn Mountain West Freshman of the Week award.  Tallakson won both of his doubles matches last week and won his spring singles debut, winning 6-0, 6-0.  Bellegy was 3-0 in singles, including his first career match at No. 1 singles with the Lobos.

Those wins for Bellegy ran his winning streak to six straight, as five Lobos enter the weekend with winning streaks of at least three matches.  Alex Maggs has won three straight, Rafael Abdulsalam has won four, Azkara has won five and Bellegy has six.  The longest streak however belongs to Georgio Samaha, who has won 10 in a row.

Samaha is putting together one of the great seasons in Lobo tennis history, and that is really saying a lot.  He’s won 10 straight and overall he is 14-2.  The crazy thing is Samaha is 6-1 when losing the opening set, including four times during the streak.

The Lobos will take all of that into a dangerous road weekend.  Wichita State is sitting at 2-4 overall with three losses to Power 5 schools and wins over Grand Canyon and Omaha.  UTSA is 3-4 with two of those wins 4-1 over Utah, giving the two schools a common opponent.