Athletes are likely to experience several highs and lows during their careers, never knowing when an injury might derail them or be a temporary setback. For one young New Mexico tennis player, the journey has already included all of those experiences and she said she is happy for it.
The Lobos now control the fate of the Rio Grande Rivalry. Following Tuesday night’s 10-4 rout over their in-state rivals, UNM (30-13, 16-5 MW) now holds a 2-1 advantage over NMSU on the 2016 campaign.
Early struggles, including flat play and lack of energy, were major factors in the New Mexico men's tennis team loss Sunday. The team ended up digging itself into an early hole that proved too great to overcome, despite a valiant comeback effort. The team got off to a rocky start, losing the first two doubles matches to spot Denver a 1-0 lead.
The New Mexico track and field team, although short-handed, put together another impressive performance Saturday at the Brutus Hamilton Challenge in Berkeley, California. Head coach Joe Franklin said the team had an outstanding performance at the previous meet, but couldn't sustain it in California. “It was a little bit down from last week, but there were some very good performances,” he said.
Women’s tennis won again Saturday to finish the regular season with a perfect record at home and in conference play, but the team still has a lot of unfinished business. New Mexico continued asserting itself early in matches. Andrea Leblanc and Rachana Bhat paired up to take the first doubles match over Elisa Nelson and Mary Meyers, 6-1. Teammates Emily Oliver and Dominique Dulski won 6-2 to snag the doubles point and take an early 1-0 lead over Air Force in the team score.
Head coach Ray Birmingham had a bad feeling about Sunday’s game as soon as he showed up that morning. He said he got to the field at 8 a.m.
New Mexico football wrapped up its final spring practice as players and coaches took time to reflect and fantasize about a bright future. Davie said he remembers every player’s situation, specifically.
Reminiscent of Friday night’s late game collapse, UNM once again blew a late lead Saturday afternoon. This time, the Lobos blew a two-run advantage in the seventh inning, and ended up falling to UNLV 7-6.
New Mexico took Game 2 against San Diego State University 13-7 Saturday afternoon to clinch the weekend series against the Aztecs.
Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said he wanted a shutout this Saturday. He got it. But he wasn’t exactly thrilled at the end of the game. The Lobos needed extra time to claim their 1-0 victory over the UCCS Mountain Lions.
New Mexico head coach Ray Birmingham has yet another accolade to place on his mantle following UNM’s 10-5 win over San Diego State on Friday night. Birmingham now has 300 wins while at the helm of New Mexico’s baseball program.
With two new hires this week, New Mexico's coaching staff is starting to take shape in anticipation for next season. Bradbury has most recently brought in two assistant coaches in the past week with the signings of Valerie King and Erin Grant. King has been coaching under Bradbury for the past six years at Wright State. Bradbury said it is nice to see a familiar face in the Land of Enchantment.
“Physically, you look at him and he’s not the most imposing figure. But he’s a self-made guy, academically and athletically; he just works his tail off.” Offensive line coach Jason Lenzmeier had that to say about his 6-foot-2-inch 290 pound senior tackle, Garrett Adcock. Football players have to give a lot on the field both mentally and physically, but there is much more than meets the eye with this student athlete.
New Mexico is back at home this weekend to take on the struggling UNLV Lady Rebels, after winning both games during last Friday’s doubleheader at Colorado State. UNLV (20-24, 4-11) has lost all four of their series’ in Mountain West play and currently sits in last place in the standings. Nonetheless,UNM is treating the visiting squad like any other. “We respect them a lot and know we have to come out this weekend with intensity and focus,” said head coach Erica Beach on the upcoming series.
The men’s and women’s tennis team will both finish the season on its home court, in a position that garners special recognition among University of New Mexico athletics. UNM saw all 21 sports programs exceed a passing mark in the NCAA Academic Progress Rate Institutional Report, according to a University release. Both tennis squads were led the way with perfect four-year scores of 1000.
Only two more weekends remain for the UNM men’s soccer spring exhibition season. The Lobos will host University of Colorado Colorado Springs for their first and only home game this spring. The following weekend, they will hit the road once more to compete against Denver at Highlands Ranch. UNM is 5-0-1 after battling two teams through winter-like conditions at Taos last Saturday.
New Mexico’s track and field team continued to bolster its resume by logging several strong performances at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California. Two athletes were rewarded for their outstanding performances at the meet last weekend. Calli Thackery was named Mountain West Women’s Track Athlete of the Week and Allan Hamilton received Mountain West Men’s Field Athlete of the Week honors.
Late game doubles from the bottom half of the lineup fueled New Mexico in a 6-5 win over No. 7 Texas Tech on Wednesday afternoon. While the bullpen was dominant in the final contest of the two-game midweek series, the Lobos’ win was highlighted in walk-off fashion. UNM’s offense was dormant for the majority of the contest, but thanks to clutch extra-base hits by pinch hitter Michael Eaton and Dalton Bowers, the Lobos were able to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Red Raiders (30-10).
On the verge of breaking into the top-10 best programs in the country, the Lobos stumbled at the Cowtown Classic this past weekend. Head coach Jeff Nelson said in a release that the Friday double-header was disappointing. New Mexico fell 3-2 to host TCU followed by a 5-0 sweep to No. 1 USC. The head coach said in the statement that his team couldn’t get anything together and just played flat on the road in Fort Worth, Texas.
New Mexico was able to salvage a Game 1 loss by taking the next two along with the series against San Jose State last weekend in California. Though the 10-3 scoreboard in the rubber match of the three-game stand indicated a blowout, the Lobo offense didn’t really get going until the late stages of Sunday afternoon’s ballgame.
Solutions by The State News
