by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's tennis program is becoming well-known internationally ¢ at least with our neighbors to the north.
Lobo junior Graeme Kassautzki and senior Kamil Pajkowski represented UNM at the inaugural Canadian College and University Games in Toronto on Aug. 17-18.
The tournament invited the top eight collegiate players who are native Canadians to compete.
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Kassautzki, of Vancouver, British Columbia, captured the gold medal in the tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Pajkowski.
Men's head coach Alan Dils said the Lobo pair represented UNM well at the event.
"I am very pleased with the results of this weekend," he said. "I'm very proud of Graeme and Kamil and all of their success. We work hard to develop our players, and I think the results show this."
Pajkowski said it was fun playing a teammate in the finals.
"We are from the same town, and we traveled together a lot as juniors," he said. "It's cool because we play a lot and practice together a lot. It's always a really interesting matchup because we both know each other's strengths and weaknesses."
Kassautzki, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, defeated Keziel Juneau in the semifinal round en route to the finals.
Kassautzki said he played against world-class competitors.
"I mean, we're essentially the top tennis players in Canada," he said. "Some of the players I've ran into before, and also played against in juniors. So, it was good to meet up against them again."
Before coming to UNM, Kassautzki was a gold medalist at the 2005 Canada Summer Games and is also a former U16 outdoor national champion in singles and doubles.
Kassautzki was also a blue chip recruit for the Lobos, Dils said.
"Graeme was a top junior player in Canada," he said. "I'm glad the way he has progressed here at UNM, and he has been a solid contributor for us the past two years."
Pajkowski, of Burnaby, British Columbia, defeated the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds to reach the finals.
Pajkowski said he had a positive experience.
"I was really excited to even be invited to the tournament," he said. "We had two Lobos out of the top eight, so we were just excited to get two people in. That's an accomplishment in itself."
Dils said Pajkowski has worked hard on improving his game and deserves the recognition.
"Kamil has gotten a lot better the past couple of years," Dils said. "He came to the Lobos I think as the No. 7 player in Canada. He's improved tremendously at UNM."
The strong showing by Lobos at the tournament shows the strong recruiting skills of UNM tennis, Dils said.
"We are obviously recruiting the right people," he said. "There are quite a few good players up there, and we have two of them. If we recruit other Canadians in the future, it shows them what we can do and will do to work with our players."
Kassautzki, Pajkowski and the rest of the Lobos men's tennis team start conditioning Monday. Practice begins Sept. 10.
Kassautzki said he is excited for the upcoming fall season.
"I'm looking forward to starting up again with the Lobos pretty soon," he said. "We have a couple of new guys, and we return all of our players, so it should be a good year for UNM tennis."
