Noroozian, Samaha Earn All-MW honors, Lobos Face UNLV in Quarters
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Lobos had a pair earned All-Mountain West honors as Aram Noroozian eaned the honor in singles and he teamed with Georgio Samaha to earn All-Mountain West honors in doubles as the league announced the All-Conference honorees on the eve of the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Tournament.
Noroozian, who was also All-Mountain West last year, is 19-8 on the seaosn and 10-4 in the Spring Dual seasons, all at No. 1 singles for UNM. He was -1 in Mountain West play but he is 6-1 in his last seven matches. He and Samaha have been nationally-ranked in doubles throughout the season, climbing as high as No. 49. Together the pair is 20-6 as a pair and 14-3 in the SPring Dual season, playing all of UNM’s matches at No. 1 doubles. Havinga 20-win season in doubles is an accomplishment, but it’s rare a pairing earned 20 doubles wins together.
Both Samaha who earned his first All-MW honor) and Noroozian are ranked among the top 30 all-time in singles wins, and Samaha is ranked in doubles wins as well for a career.
UNM will need both on top of their game in order to make a run as the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Tournament, with UNM opening against host UNLV, which is the No. 7 seed, but a dangerous side with the Mountain West Player and Freshman of the Year in Illia Snitari.
Mountain West Men’s Player of the Year
Ilia Snitari, Fr., UNLV
Mountain West Men’s Freshman of the Year
Ilia Snitari, Fr., UNLV
All-Mountain West Men’s Singles
Phillip Deaton, Jr., Air Force
Arjun Kersten, Sr., Air Force
Carson Baker, So., Boise State
Jett Middleton, Sr., Boise State
James Van Herzeele, Sr., Boise State
Youssef Kadiri, Sr., Nevada
Aram Noroozian, Sr., New Mexico
Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice, Jr., San Diego State
Illia Maksymchuk, Jr., UNLV
Ilia Snitari, Fr., UNLV
Mohammad Alkotop, So., Utah State
Sergi Micó Fenollar, Sr., Utah State
All-Mountain West Men’s Doubles
Jack Brown/Arjun Kersten, Air Force
Carson Baker/Jett Middleton, Boise State
Lucas Hammond/Youssef Kadiri, Nevada
Aram Noroozian/Georgio Samaha, New Mexico
Mathieu Josserand/Alexander Mandma, San Diego State
Mohammad Alkotop/Dmitri Goubin, Utah State