by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's tennis team's 2006-07 season can be defined by one word - challenging.
The problems began last fall when a top freshman recruit didn't show up for the first day of practice.
Then, disaster struck Feb. 23 when UNM lost its No. 1 singles and doubles player, All-American Iva Gersic, to a season-ending ankle injury.
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Head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz said losing the two was enough to damage any team.
"Being down two scholarship players like that is real hard," she said. "The team was forced to step up, and I think they did a good job of doing that."
The difficulties kept on coming. Following spring break, No. 2 singles player Ola Abou-Zekry's wrist started giving her trouble.
To make matters worse, No. 3 singles player Mackenzie White fell during a third set and injured her wrist during a Mountain West Conference matchup against University of Nevada-Las Vegas in Fort Worth, Texas.
All three players required surgery for their injuries. White and Abou-Zekry played six weeks with injuries and waited until the season concluded before undergoing surgery.
White said it took dedication to continue playing.
"It was painful, but I had to do what I had to do," she said. "I couldn't let the team down. It takes a certain kind of team commitment, even though you're injured, to play through it."
Kolankiewicz said the injuries were a rare occurrence for her team.
"I've been coaching for 22 years," she said. "Never have I seen that many injuries in such a short amount of time. In my entire career, I've seen maybe four surgeries. Three surgeries in four months - it was such a challenge."
During that time, UNM lost seven consecutive matches, including matchups with No. 24 Virginia Commonwealth, No. 26 Pepperdine and MWC foe No. 27 Brigham Young.
Kolankiewicz said the seven losses should have been the knockout punch for her team.
"Seven losses in a row is tough," she said. "It's really difficult to deal with that. We could have fallen apart, and we didn't. We kept on fighting."
The Lobos ended 2007 with a 12-11 record, going 5-5 in MWC play and finishing the season ranked No. 67 nationally.
The Lobos also reached the semifinals of the MWC Tournament, before falling to eventual champion BYU 4-1 to end their season.
Kolankiewicz said the team did not live up to its preseason goals.
"Obviously, we did not finish where we wanted to in the top 40," she said. "But when you look at it, the 11 losses that we had were against quality, top-50 teams. And some of those matches were very, very close."
Kolankiewicz said that overall, she was happy with the way her team responded.
"I'm very proud of the team with how they handled everything," she said. "We ended up, at least on paper, having a decent season. Considering what we were dealt, I'm very happy with where we ended up."
Now, with a fresh start, 2007 looks bright for the Lobos. UNM returns seven players from last year's team and has two new additions in New Zealand's Emma Hayman and Sweden's Victoria Tessmar.
Fall conditioning started Tuesday, and preseason practice begins Sept. 5.
Kolankiewicz said she is confident this season will be an improvement.
"We are really excited, and we know this year will hopefully be better and less problematic than last year," Kolankiewicz said. "Or at least that's what we are hoping for."
