by Ketan Dhawan
Daily Lobo
Easter weekend was good for the UNM men's tennis team.
The Lobo men managed to win their first three conference matches - all at home - and are now leading the Mountain West. Two conference matches remain before the MWC tournament.
Friday the Lobos took on Air Force, and UNM started the match strong, fighting for the doubles point. All three doubles teams won their matches.
Senior Divan Coetzee blew out his Falcon opponent Trevor Johnson 6-3, 6-1, beginning a winning streak that he and his teammates would adhere to for the rest of the weekend. The Lobo men lost only one match against three opponents.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The 67th-ranked UNM men then took on the UNLV Rebels on Saturday afternoon.
Once again, Coetzee reigned supreme, smashing Aviram Salomon 6-0, 6-1. Lobos Singles wins by Hiroud Akhavan, Ryan Stotland and David Kowalski, and a sweep of all the doubles matches earned UNM another victory, 5-2 over the Rebels.
Sunday afternoon the Lobos took on the toughest of their three weekend opponents. UNM went in strong against San Diego State, once again sweeping the doubles matches.
Henry Gers and Senior Jasmin Hodzic easily defeated SDSU's Mike Coehlo and Daniel Jung 8-2 in just more than an hour. Stotland and Kowalski finished their match soon after, crushing Felix Hardt and Ryan Redondo 8-3. Coetzee and Akhavan struggled early, but came back to win 10-8.
Singles began soon afterward, and the Lobos continued to dominate. Coetzee once again won, and there were only two losses counted by the Lobos.
Hodzic came away with an easy victory as well, and Akhavan pulled out a nail-biter, winning a tie-breaker in the second set that ended at 20-18. They were Hodzic and Coetzee's final home matches.
UNM head coach Alan Dils said he is happy with his team's performance.
"It was a very good weekend," he said. "I expected to win the first two. This was the toughest one. It's always tough playing SDSU. Coach Carswell is a good coach and a good friend. It'll never be an easy match playing his team."
The Lobos are the only undefeated team in the conference.
"We have to feel good," Dils said. "We're 3-0. But we still have two very tough matches ahead of us, and there's a lot we can improve."
Coetzee said he is happy with his final home matches of the season.
"It's a great way to go out," he said. "It's my last time here, and I'm very happy with how it ended. Now our confidence is rising high, and we should do very well in our upcoming matches."
The Lobos will finish up regular season play next weekend. They take on Utah at 2 p.m. on Friday and BYU in Salt Lake City on Saturday at 10 a.m.
