Photo by: Michael Furman
Hailing from Las Cruces, N.M., Pioneer men’s tennis player Andrew Landwerlen, a junior, has helped lead the Pioneer men’s tennis team to DU’s best start in team history this season.
The 6-foot-6-inch Landwerlen and his doubles partner David Simson of Vienna, Austria, have smashed the competition throughout the spring season with a 7-1 overall record and the No. 1 doubles position.
On Feb. 2, Landwerlen was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Men’s Tennis Athlete of the week.
He leads the Pioneers with an overall singles record of 8-0, typically playing in the No. 5 or No. 6 singles slot, and has also a 7-1 doubles record with Simson at the No. 1 doubles position.
With big wins against the top doubles teams from Northern Colorado, Air Force, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico, BYU, Drake and the No. 65 University of Nebraska, the two players have dropped only one match, and that was to Radford University.
Meanwhile, the Pioneer team has established a 7-1 record, the best start in team history since joining Division-I tennis in 1998.
With two 4-3 victories over highly ranked Nebraska and New Mexico, the Pioneers have proven that DU can face the stiffest competition in the nation.
The team’s only loss of the year came when the team dropped a match 3-4 to the No. 60 BYU Cougars. DU bounced back quickly, defeating Drake University 6-1 two days later.
This weekend DU plays Texas Tech and Arizona in Lubbock, Texas.
“We each have total faith and confidence in each other, regardless what position we are playing in. These guys are my best friends and we’re a team, not individual players,” said Landwerlen.
Men’s tennis head coach Danny Westerman assigns each player or doubles team to a specific slot to reduce intra-team competition.
“When it comes down to a 3-3 tie and there’s one match still going on, it doesn’t matter what position someone is playing,” said Landwerlen. “It just matters if we can win as a team.”
The No. 63-ranked Pioneers have 10 matches and one tournament remaining before the SBC playoffs April 22-25.
The team has matches against Sacramento State and the University of Iowa at home the first weekend in March, at the Stapleton Tennis Pavilion, the on-campus tennis courts.
