Making a racket: Here's what to know about this year's UNM tennis teams

The New Mexico women’s tennis team last year recorded one of its best seasons of the past couple of decades.

In doing so, the Lobos learned that not only is each overall match crucial, but that every individual match, and even every point can determine the ultimate outcome, said coach Vicky Maes.

“We didn’t expect to win as many matches as we did last year,” she said. “We just did. We just won a few crucial points that we didn’t win, say the year before that. And that made all the difference.”

Heading into this weekend’s trio of matches against Western New Mexico, CSU Pueblo and Gonzaga to open the home season, here a few things to know about the Lobos (0-2), who are the defending regular-season Mountain West champs.

ONE UP: New Mexico finished 19-3 last season, its best record since going 20-5 in 2005. It’s also the first time the Lobos finished above .500 since 2019. Remarkably, the Lobos went 7-1 in matches decided by one individual match (a 4-3 final score).

“The Mountain West conference is very competitive,” Maes said. “If you look at the winners of the last four years, they’re always different teams. It’s not always the same outstanding team. So I think that’s what makes the conference so great is that everyone has a chance to win it. All you’ve got to do is create a little bit of momentum, get a little bit lucky here and there, stay healthy and just never really quit.”

‘NEW AND DIFFERENT’: This is a fairly new squad that will see incoming transfers playing large roles and holdovers looking to step up as last year’s top player, as well as two others in the top five are gone. Two other players who were expected to contribute have significant injuries and won’t play. That means players such as Sofia Taborga from Brazil, and Eldorado grad Allison Romero — both seniors — are going to have to make bigger contributions after sitting most of their careers. And Maud Vandeputte of Belgium will move way up the ladder.

“I think the returners were worried that this year wasn’t going to be like (last year), but now they see they’re a new team,” Maes said. “They have new talent. Their talent has changed. New people have to be willing to step up and to be put in that kind of role of responsibility, and I think the girls have responded very well. And while our culture is the same and our requirements, our expectations are the same, as a whole the talent level and where we’re at is a different thing, but everyone’s embraced that. It’s not necessarily like, ‘Oh, we’re not going to be as good.’ It’s more like, ‘Oh, we’re new and different, and we got to figure out how to be just as good.’”

GLOBAL IMPACT: International flavor is big for the Lobos as seven of the nine players are from outside the United States, with two freshmen — Maria Matsoukatidi from Greece and Couma Ben from Mali — expected to join Vandeputte and Taborga as regulars in the lineup. Vandeputte’s sister, Bente Vandeputte, is also expected to have an impact.

BIG GAINES: Finally, Rebekkah Gaines, a transfer from Florida A&M, will slide into the No. 1 singles role and should carry a significant load moving forward.

UNM men’s tennis

Coach Rob Bareford takes the helm of the Lobo men’s tennis team after moving over from Montana State. Bareford also had a tenure at Radford, leading the Highlanders to two NCAA tournaments and had a doubles squad reach the NCAA quarterfinals.

Here are a few things to know about the men’s team, whose first home matches come March 7 and 9 against Wichita State and Santa Clara.

LINEUP TWEAKS: New Mexico’s top two players transferred to other schools, leaving the top of the lineup wide open. But the Lobos were able to lure Aditya Balsekar of India, who helped Radford reach the NCAAs several years ago under Bareford; and Dario Ciobotaru of Romania came along with Bareford from Montana State.

CLOSE TO HOME: The local connection is strong for the Lobos as Eldorado alum Georgio Samaha has been a fixture in the lineup entering his junior season. And freshman Connor Dils out of Albuquerque Academy is the son of longtime Lobos assistant coach Loren Dils and nephew of longtime head coach Alan Dils. Redshirt freshman Philip Bosin also is an Eldorado grad who saw time in both singles and doubles in the fall.

TOP 40? Bareford cites the program’s potential for growth as the reason to join New Mexico.

“It’s just an opportunity to not only do what I’ve always done, as far as winning conference championships, but also do more. Become top 40 in the country. That’s the short-term goal,” he said.

How soon that occurs will depend on how soon the program coalesces.

“I mean, yeah, that would be great,” he said of reaching that lofty goal this season, especially with the defections. But the transfers that came in should shore up the roster. “So yeah, I got a familiar couple of faces. And I’ve coached against these guys (the Lobos) before. When we hosted regionals in the fall of 2022, I coached against them in singles and doubles. So I’m also familiar on the opposite side of the court for for some of the guys in the team.”