Men's Tennis: Lobos to host UTSA and NMSU in first home matches

After picking up wins against BYU, Nebraska and Utah in last week’s trip to Utah, the Lobos will be hoping to continue their recent run of form in their first home matches.

New Mexico (4-5) will play both the University of Texas at San Antonio and New Mexico State on Saturday.

All of the matches for the UNM men’s tennis have been and will be away from home this season. The Lobos are scheduled to have just four more home matches after this weekend, which will be played against Northern Arizona, Fresno State, UNLV and San Diego State.

After playing three intense matches in the previous weekend in Utah, the Lobos likely needed a week to recover and prepare for the two matches on Saturday. When asked about the fitness of the team, UNM head coach Ben Dunbar said his team is in top shape and prepared for a heavy schedule.

“Honestly, as tennis players, as we grow up and play tennis tournaments, we are used to playing two singles matches and two doubles matches in a day, so it’s not really something that is out of the ordinary.” Dunbar said. “The guys put the work in during the fall and are in great shape, so there won’t be any problem at all.”

The Lobos play UTSA (2-5) to start things off on Saturday. The Roadrunners have had a difficult start to the season, picking up only two wins and losing five — including recent losses to Texas Tech and Texas A&M-Corpus Christie. UTSA’s two wins came against the University of Texas and Prairie View A&M back in January.

The Lobos will then face NMSU (5-2) in the afternoon at 4 p.m. The last time the two sides faced one another was back in the spring of 2014, a match the Lobos won 4-2. The Aggies lost their most recent match to UT Arlington, but have won four out of their last five matches. The Lobos haven’t lost to the Aggies since 2010, having won three out of their last four meetings.

“Both of them are good teams. Obviously, with New Mexico State, it’s an in-state rivalry.” Coach Dunbar said. “We haven’t played them in a couple of years, and when I became the head coach over the summer, that was something that I wanted to add back onto our schedule because I think it gives the guys a taste of a unique sort of pressure.”

UNM sophomore Ricky Hernandez-Tong and senior Rodolfo Jauregui lead the team in singles wins, with 22 wins between the pair. In doubles, the Lobo duo of junior Sean Baklini and Jauregui have a record of 6-1 together.

Both matches will take place at the McKinnon Family Tennis Center, weather permitting.

Matthieu Cartron is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women’s soccer. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter 
@cartron_matt.