The New Mexico men’s tennis program finally returns to Albuquerque to make its home spring debut, while the women’s team hits the road for six consecutive road matches.
The women’s tennis team, after notching back-to-back upset wins at home, looks to build some confidence on the road as it heads to Kansas to play a pair of matches this weekend.
The women's team, which is 5-2 on the season, will open with Wichita State on Saturday at 1 p.m. followed by another on Sunday at noon against Kansas.
Head coach Kelcy McKenna said both schools are playing really well and was interested to see where the schools end up being ranked.
“They’re both probably going to end up being top 40 teams,” she said. “It’ll be another good opportunity for us to see where we are at, and see if we can keep improving as the matches progress.”
Wichita State climbed to No. 21 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. The Shockers are 10-3 on the season, but suffered a loss to 43rd ranked Arkansas on Monday by a 4-3 count.
Kansas achieved its highest ranking in program history, jumping to 23rd. The Jayhawks are 6-0 on the season and haven’t given up more than one point to a school in any of their matches so far.
The Lobos made a push up the rankings as well. The women’s team moved from being ranked number 69 all the way up to number 46 in the ITA rankings.
New Mexico will have to make the most of its opportunities when they present themselves and play big in key moments. McKenna said the team will focus on some key things in practice.
“We really need to keep working on executing when we’re inside the baseline,” she said. “Every person has a different game style, so we will have to work on that individually.”
The men’s team, 3-10 on the season, finally plays its first match in Albuquerque and will stay home for almost an entire month. Head coach Bart Scott said the team is excited to get home and play in front of its fans.
The men will engage in a doubleheader against DePaul at 10 a.m. and Utah at 5 p.m. on Friday.
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DePaul is 3-6 on the season and is coming off a big win against Georgetown, in which the squad prevailed 4-3. Utah had won 11 straight to start the season before suffering its first loss on Saturday to BYU, 2-5.
The women will continue their road trip as they travels to Texas to square off against Houston and Rice next weekend, while the men stay home to host BYU and Air Force.
Robert Maler is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country, tennis, and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
