The UNM men’s tennis team hasn’t won the Mountain West Conference since 2009, but the team’s goal each season is to win the conference and go on to conquer even greater feats.
Ben Dunbar, a senior, said the 2011-2012 squads reminds him of the one in 2009 that won the conference and earned a bid into the NCAA tournament.
“We always set expectations of making the NCAAs, which we did my freshman year,” Dunbar said.
He said the 2009 team had a mix of veterans and newcomers. The Lobos are returning all but one player this season and added three more players to the roster, which he said will help the team get back on the map.
“Hopefully that gels together to become another conference-winning team,” Dunbar said.
The regular season doesn’t begin until 2012, but head coach Alan Dils said the fall is a good way to give younger players experience.
“The whole idea of the fall is to get a lot of matches, and you really prepare your players, work on some things, so you’re ready to go when we get to late January,” Dils said.
So far the team has competed in two tournaments, one in Las Cruces and one in Midland, Texas.
Dils sent freshmen James Hignett and Samir Iftikhar and sophomores Mads Hegelund and Mitch McDaniels to compete in Las Cruces.
Iftikhar placed second in the singles tournament and McDaniels and Hegelund teamed up to take second in the doubles tournament.
“I was pleased,” Dils said. “These four guys went down there and represented UNM very well.”
This past weekend, Dils sent some of his more experienced players to compete in the Midland Collegiate Invitational.
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Juniors Jadon Phillips and Conor Berg and Seniors Carl Ho and Phil Anderson all participated in the tournament, but no Lobo advanced to the main draw on Saturday.
Phillips is also part of a top-ranked duo. He and Anderson are ranked 18th in the country as doubles partners.
The real test for the Lobos is four months away, when the regular season begins.
After each of his first two seasons with the Lobos, Dunbar returned home to England for the summer to visit family, play a couple tournaments, and relax.
This summer he sacrificed family time to stay in Albuquerque, and said staying at a high elevation over the summer helped him maintain his conditioning at a high level.
“I kind of feel like I’m a little bit ahead of the game,” Dunbar said. “It’s nice to be ready to go, instead of still working on my game or trying to find my game, like I used to.”
Dunbar competes this weekend at the Denver Invitational, and said the team is capable of being a top program like the 2009 team, but everyone has to lead the way.
“If we’re going to be successful this year, even the freshmen who come in, they’re going to have to be leaders as well,” Dunbar said.
Dils will try to earn his sixth conference title as a head coach and said this is the team that can get it done.
“This team is deep enough, strong enough, experienced enough that we should be a top 30-35 team in the country,” he said.
