Men’s Tennis Hosts National-Ranked Utah State in MW Opener

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico’s end-of-conference schedule did not go … well, as scheduled.  The Lobos finished non-conference play winning just two of its final seven matches, and UNM ended non-conference play at 9-7. That’s good, but not where the Lobos were planning to be as Mountain West play rolled around.

But, Mountain West play in fact here, and UNM can quickly rectify the ghosts of the past few matches with a pair of good opening performances.  But, it won’t be easy, and let’s face it, it never is.

UNM opens Mountain West play at home on Thursday, hosting the 13-3 and nationally-ranked Utah State Aggies at McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium at 4 p.m. before traveling for a Mountain West road match at UNLV.  That match will be Saturday at 2 p.m. Mountain Time.

UNM can’t get on the court fast enough after losing in its last effort, a 4-0 loss to Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.  However, there might be a method to UNM’s madness.  IN each of the past few losses, head coach Chris Russell has been able to rest key players over a compacted schedule that saw seven matches over a 20-day span, and six over a 13-day stretch.

It allowed for more players to get into the action in singles, and has given UNM something it didn’t have a year ago: depth.

Freshman Avery Tallakson has now won the Mountain West Freshman of the Week award twice, including two weeks ago after going 2-0 in singles.  Adra Azkara is a three-time Mountain West Player of the Week and is 11-1 in the spring.  He got some time off, along with Aram Noroozian, who also has a Player of the Week honor to his credit.

However, the task is tall for UNM, hosting the Aggies, who are 13-3 overall and return many of the same players from last year.  UNLV is 7-7 on the year and is always tough at home at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.  Last year UNM took down UNLV in Albuquerque, and beat Utah State in two of the three meetings between them.