Men’s Tennis Opens Season with Three In Texas
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The 2025 men’s tennis season, and the Rob Bareford era, officially gets underway on Friday with the first of three matches taking place in the Lone Star State. The Lobos, who open with nine straight away from home, will take on SMU in University Park on Friday before traveling to play at UT Arlington on Saturday and Baylor on Sunday.
Overall, UNM plays seven matches at home, with the first one coming in the season’s 10 match, on March 7 against Wichita State.
The Lobos, coming off a 14-10 season a year ago, will be looking to for a fourth Mountain West title in the last six seasons. Last year UNM entered the final match of the season with a shot at the regular season title with a win over Boise State and a little bit of help, but the Broncos took that match, and then a week later eliminated UNM in the Mountain West semifinals.
Now, enter head coach Rob Bareford, who came to UNM after successful stints at Montana State and Radford, where he went 62-37 overall. Bareford had to replenish a roster that lost two-time Mountain West Player of the Year Arda Azkara and three other seniors, and he picked up a pair of transfers in Aditya Balsekar and Dario Ciobotaru, both of whom come to UNM with plenty of collegiate experience at the top of the lineup.
Balsekar went 45-11 in singles in his three seasons at Radford (he missed last season with an injury) and he was a perfect 16-0 in Big South singles matches. While he hasn’t played yet for UNM officially, he certainly will be a key piece for Bareford moving forward.
His other big transfer is Ciobotaru, who won 21 matches at Montana State last year while playing No. 1 and No. 2 singles. In the fall season, the sophomore was tied for second on the team with nine singles wins.
While the Lobos lost some firepower from last season in Azkara, Alex Maggs, Arthur Bellegy and Ryomo Matsushita, the Lobos return plenty of firepower as well. Georgio Samaha, he of the traveling band of fans from Albuquerque that hoot and holler at every match, enters the spring of his final semester at UNM with 73 singles wins, good for a tie for 14th on the all-time career list. Samaha has the most wins among any active Lobo overall with 118.
It’s hard to mention firepower without mentioning the big-serving, hard-hitting Canadian in Aram Noroozian. A veteran who has 55 singles wins and his played anywhere from No. 2 to No. 4 in his career, the lefty looks to make an impact both in singles and as a regular in doubles, returning to that lineup for what should be a regular basis for the first time since his sophomore campaign.
One other senior could potentially be a hidden key piece of the puzzle in Daniil Kakhniuk. Injured much of the last two seasons, Daniil had a monster Fall, leading UNM with 10 singles wins and 18 combined wins overall. A healthy Kakhniuk has proven to be ready for the rigors of Mountain West play, and his presence could give UNM a huge edge in dual matches.
A pair of sophomores also return in Avery Tallakson and Nicolas Recoura. Both players saw plenty of key action in 2024, and both at various times were named Mountain West Freshmen of the Week (as were Noroozian and Samaha).
That depth will help two Lobo freshmen who both saw action in the fall. Philip Bosin won three singles matches in Fall action, and Connor Dils, the son of former Lobo coach Loren Dils and nephew of former coach Alan Dils, also saw action in the Fall as a true freshman. The two paired up for three doubles wins as well.
The Lobos open the weekend taking on an SMU team that is 5-2 already on the young season. Saturday’s opponent UT Arlington is 0-2 on the season, and Baylor, which hosts UNM on Sunday, is 3-2 with a match against No. 10 San Diego prior to hosting UNM.
Only the match with SMU will be streamed and that will also be the only match with live scoring.