by Andre van der Merwe
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's tennis team beat Texas Tech on Sunday at the Lobo Tennis Club with some help from its solid doubles performances.
The No. 39-ranked Lobos (4-1) won the doubles point and four of the six singles matches to put a blemish on the No. 61 Texas Tech Red Raiders' (4-1) record.
Texas Tech came to New Mexico undefeated in four matches, but their streak was stopped short with a 5-2 team win by the Lobos.
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The No. 1 doubles team of Maja Kovacek and Iva Gersic won the match 8-6 against Texas Tech's Tara Browning and Lakann Wagley.
Kovacek said she felt confident going into the match, but that shouldn't be much of a surprise - there's not a foe out there that frightens her, she said.
"We start off confident," she said. "We know we can beat any team in the country."
Sophomores Lucy Scott and Ola Abou-Zekry scored the biggest upset of the day when they beat Texas Tech's No. 23-ranked doubles team of Katja Kovacic and Erin Hunter, 8-6.
Despite the big win over a ranked team, Scott said they still didn't have the match they are capable of.
"I don't think we played that well, but good enough to win," she said.
After taking down the Raiders' ranked team and Arizona State University's No. 34 team of Sabrina Capannolo and Rebecca Rankin on Jan. 29, Scott said it's about time they got some respect as a doubles team in the rankings.
"I feel we should be ranked now after beating two ranked teams," she said.
Abou-Zekry didn't just help out in the doubles round, but shut down her opponent in singles. Abou-Zekry, a native of Egypt, kept Janet Durham from scoring a point until the fifth game of the set. Abou-Zekry finished out the first set 6-0, before Durham came back and tied the second set at four games a piece. Abou-Zekry squeaked out the next two games to win the set 6-4 and take the match.
Abou-Zekry said some mental lapses kept her from closing out what should have been an easy victory.
"I started to lose concentration because I thought it was easy, and I let her come back," she said.
With another win to bolster her record, Abou-Zekry said she has high hopes for the next two years of her college career.
"If I get the chance to play in the No.1 or 2 spot, I'll go for it," she said.
Although Abou-Zekry may be the future, one thing is certain: Kovacek is the present. Kovacek, the only senior on the team, not only took a win with Gersic in doubles, but also took a win in her singles match against Tara Browning.
Kovacek, the No. 1 singles player for UNM, won the first set 6-3. Kovacek's cruise through the first set ended abruptly in the second when she lost 7-5. She managed to come back in the third and final set and win 10-6 to close out the match.
Although the Lobos won the doubles point and were 4-2 in the singles matches, it was not an easy victory, coach Kathy Kolankiewicz said.
"They are a strong, energetic and aggressive team," Kolankiewicz said of Texas Tech. "We were glad to come away with a win after a pretty good battle."
