by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
Being at the top of the Mountain West Conference has its pros and cons for the UNM men's
tennis team.
As of Tuesday, the Lobos are ranked No. 47 in Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, falling seven spots from last
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week's poll.
Of all MWC teams ranked by the ITA, UNM is the highest, followed by San Diego State at No. 52, Brigham Young at No. 69, Utah at No. 72 and Texas Christian
at No. 74.
Head coach Alan Dils said being the highest ranked team in the MWC means the other teams will be gunning for the Lobos.
"We have to be prepared for our opponents to view us as a good win," he said. "It forces us to raise our level in order to stay at the top of the MWC."
The 11-5 Lobos open MWC play this weekend, taking on BYU today, SDSU on Saturday and Utah on Sunday in San Diego.
Dils said playing against the first set of conference foes will not be an easy battle.
"We are playing some tough teams, and we are going to have to be on top of our game if we want to come out on top," he said.
UNM is coming off losses last weekend to No. 13 Texas and No. 49 Texas Tech, 4-3 and 5-2,
respectively.
Dils said the Lobos have to forget about those defeats to be successful this weekend.
"We definitely want to improve on last week's outing," he said. "We'll have to put it behind us and rebound for this weekend. We've been working hard all this week, so I'm confident that we'll be
able to."
BYU is 9-9 on the season and 1-3 against ranked opponents.
The Cougars and Lobos have already met once this season, in the semifinals of the ITA/Mountain Regional Team Playoffs on Jan. 20 in Boise, Idaho. UNM was victorious, blanking the Cougars 4-0.
However, BYU does hold the all-time series advantage, 27-24-1.
SDSU goes into Saturday's contest with the Lobos on a four-match winning streak. The Aztecs, 9-6 on the season, have faced 10 ranked teams this season, splitting 5-5.
SDSU is led by Markus Dickhardt and Christian Groh, who boast national singles rankings of No. 52 and No. 92, respectively. The two team up in doubles, ranking No. 17 in the nation.
Utah is 10-6 overall and comes into this weekend on a two-match losing streak.
The Utes are led by Zach Ganger. Ganger is the highest-ranked player in the MWC, coming in at No. 51 in singles.
Dils said the quality of competition in the MWC will benefit
his team.
"We face three quality opponents this weekend, and I'm excited," he said. "Our whole conference is strong. We all have to compete against each other, and by doing that, we have to raise our level with each team we face."
Men's tennis vs. BYU
Today, 11:00 a.m.
San Diego
