by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
If you think the UNM men's tennis team is celebrating its 14-8 record and No. 55 national ranking, think again.
The Lobos head into the Mountain West Conference tournament with a 3-3 conference record and a No. 4 seed.
Head coach Alan Dils said the seeding is a letdown.
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"We're not happy with the four seed," he said. "I think we're better than that. We were definitely shooting for better than a four seed, and we are certainly
disappointed."
UNM tied for third in the conference with No. 75 UNLV. However, the Rebels earned the No. 3 seed because of their regular season win over the Lobos.
UNLV topped UNM 4-3 on April 13 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The same weekend, the Lobos dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 2 seed Texas Christian.
Dils said that weekend was
costly.
"Three-quarters of the season has gone really well for us," he said. "The only weekend that we were really disappointed was our TCU weekend. We knew that TCU and UNLV would be good, and those were both very tight, good matches for us. Unfortunately, we didn't win those, and it puts us behind where we don't want to be."
UNM opens tournament play Thursday, taking on No. 5 seed Brigham Young in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Lobos have two wins over the Cougars this season, including a 4-3 decision March 30 in
San Diego.
Max Jones, UNM's top player, said the team is confident facing BYU in the first round.
"To be honest, we're a much better team than they are," he said. "It should have been better than 4-3 last time. Chris (Parkes) was injured. They had one guy play really, really well that beat Graeme (Kassautzki) in three sets. They are a tough team no doubt, but we should beat them better than 4-3."
Should UNM beat BYU, there is a possible meeting with No. 1 seed San Diego State in the semifinals.
The Lobos lost to the No. 49 Aztecs 6-1 during conference play.
Jones said the Lobos should match up better with SDSU this time around.
"They have a lot of Germans and South Americans on their team who like to grind and play on slow courts down at sea level," he said. "The conference tournament matchup will suit us a lot better. The courts are a lot faster. Especially when they get into altitude, (the courts) pack in a little bit easier. It should be a lot better for us so we can show our strengths."
Dils said the MWC tournament is wide open this season.
"Really, with six teams in the conference, on any given day, a lot of teams can beat each other," he said. "The slate is wide open. The conference tournament is very
different. Bring in the altitude and the weather conditions that are likely in Colorado Springs, and really, it's a crapshoot."
Johnny Parkes, the No. 2
player for the Lobos, said he likes UNM's chances.
"At the end of the day, you have to beat every team to win the tournament," he said. "If you don't believe in winning, then it's not going to happen. We all know that we had some bad matches last weekend, and we also know that we can win this title. We just have to go out there collectively as a team, confident, and we can do it."
Men's tennis vs. BYU
MWC Championships
Thursday, 9 a.m.
Colorado Springs, Colo.
