ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- Dario Ciobotaru earned a No. 5 seed, and the Lobos will have the No. 2 seed in doubles, as the Lobos have six student-athletes taking part in the Mountain West Fall Qualifier. The tournament feeds into the NCAA Championships later in the fall.
For New Mexico, four players will take part in singles, and the team will have two doubles pairings.
Ciobotaru is the No. 5 seed in singles and will face Brock Anderson of San Diego State in the opening round. A win there would put him into the Round of 16 against either Jean-Baptists Badon of Utah State or Axel Huysmans of Nevada.
Also, in the singles field are Tyler Waddock, Jakub Prachar, and Philip Bosin. Waddock is with Ciobotaru in the same eight-man pod, and he will open with Illia Mayksymchuk of UNLV, making the second Lobo that Mayksymchuk has played this year, as he defeated Bosin earlier this year.
A win for Waddock would send him forward against either Tyler Leaird of Air Force or the No. 4 seed Tristan Berard of Grand Canyon.
Jakub Prachar will battle Daniel Hankoski of Grand Canyon, with either Air Force’s Matthew Staton or Boise State’s Avery Tallakson, a former Lobo and the No. 6 seed, up next.
Bosin will take on the tournament’s No. 2 seed Aleksi Lofman of San Diego State, with a date against either Joel Gibson of UNLV or Brice Patoux awaiting in the Round of 16.
In doubles, the winners of the Wildcat Invitational in doubles, Prachar and Waddock, are the No. 2 seed, and they will face Leaird and Caden Lee of Air Force in the opening Round of 16. A win would move the tandem into the quarterfinals against either UNLV’s Vitali Horovoy and Gibson or Nevada’s Remy Tregoures and Nicolas Recoura, another former Lobo.
Additionally, the Lobos will have Carl Labitzke and Nishant Dabas in doubles, and they will take on the No. 1-seeded tandem of San Diego State’s Lars Johann and Aleksi Lofman. A win there would mean a quarterfinal matchup against either Rayen Hermassi and Axel Huysmans of Nevada or Xavier Calvelo or Roman Venger of Utah State.
Lobo fans can keep up with all the action via the Mountain West’s Official Tournament Page. Live scoring is also available, and updates will be posted on the official X page of the men’s tennis team.