Staff Report
The Lobo men's and women's tennis teams clinched the Mountain West Conference regular-season titles this weekend.
The men defeated Brigham Young on Saturday in Provo, Utah, to finish the conference undefeated and the women wrapped up their conference season against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday, also capping a perfect conference season.
The men beat BYU 4-3 to win their second consecutive Mountain West Conference regular-season title. UNM went 5-0 in conference play this year, after going 4-1 last year.
Senior Divan Coetzee set a new UNM individual-season record, with 35 singles wins this year. The No. 27 Coetzee beat No. 50 Erik Nyman 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match. Coetzee is now 94-29 in his tennis career as a Lobo and with two more wins this season he will tie the record for the most career wins in school history.
The men had to rally after losing their opening doubles point, but they did just that by getting singles wins from Coetzee, juniors David Kowalski and Ryan Stotland. It all came down to senior Jasmin Hodzic rallying from a first set loss to steal the final, and conference-winning point from Dominik Kaufhold 4-6, 6-2,6-3.
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The UNM women ran the table in regular season conference play this year, en route to their first-ever conference title, winning 20 of 21 doubles matches and 37 of 42 singles matches this season.
They showed the same dominant presence on Sunday, as there was never a match in doubt. The Lobo women won all six singles matches and two of three doubles matches. Not one of the matches had to go to a decisive third set.
After dropping the first doubles match 8-6, the Lobos finished strong. Freshman Iva Gersic and senior Maria Ruiz-Fabrega won their doubles match 8-1, followed by an 8-2 win from juniors Tiffany Robertson and Michelle Heidbrink.
UNM swept the singles matches as well, lead by sophomore Maja Kovacek's 6-0, 6-1 victory over Laura Nigro.
Robertson and Gersic also won their singles matches with ease. Seniors Sandy Lukowski and Tjasa Sovak rounded out the dominance with their 6-0, 6-1 victories over Katie Tomkie and Miclynn Crail of Air Force.
Both Lobo tennis teams will head to the Mountain West Conference tournament as the No. 1 seeds. The women go into the tournament on a seven-game winning streak. The tournament will be held in San Diego, Calif., April 29 through May 1.
