Match One
NM State vs. UC Riverside
Friday, Jan. 28 | 11:00 a.m. MT | Fertitta Tennis Complex | Las Vegas, Nev.
Match Two
NM State vs. Weber State
Friday, Jan. 28 | 3:00 p.m. MT | Fertitta Tennis Complex | Las Vegas, Nev.
Match Three
NM State at UNLV
Saturday, Jan. 29 | 11:00 a.m. MT | Fertitta Tennis Complex | Las Vegas, Nev.
Match Four
NM State vs. Hawaii
Sunday, Jan. 30 | 11:00 a.m. MT | Fertitta Tennis Complex | Las Vegas, Nev.
THE FIRST SERVE
• Las Vegas, Nev., is where the NM State men's tennis team will begin the spring portion of its 2021-22 campaign as the Aggies are set to play four matches over the course of three days at UNLV's Fertitta Tennis Complex.
• NM State begins dual match play with showdowns against UC Riverside (11:00 a.m.) and Weber State (3:00 p.m. MT) Friday. Saturday at 11:00 a.m., the Aggies tangle with host UNLV before closing out that four-match swing with a Sunday morning matchup with Hawaii (11:00 a.m.).
• A new trio of faces joined NM State ahead of the start of January's spring semester. Italian freshman Luca Fe d'Ostiani, UTPB transfer Vassanth Mathan and Itay Ifigin, a freshman from Israel, linked up with the Aggies ahead of their dual match schedule.
• That group of three adds to an already stacked NM State roster that put forth a number of great performances through the fall of 2021.
• Headlining NM State's group of returners is senior Louis Menard. The Annecy, France, product was named the WAC Singles Player of the Month in both October and November after producing some impressive victories.
• Menard constructed a mark of 12-2 in singles action during the fall, making a run to the quarterfinal round of the ITA Mountain Regionals. His most high-profile win of the fall came in October as he took down Arizona's Gustaf Strom - the nation's 35th-best singles player according to the ITA - en route to a 3-0 mark at the Arizona Invitational in early October.
• In doubles play, Menard teamed with Martin Simecek to go 9-5 through the fall. That tandem was named the WAC's Doubles Team of the Month for October after going 2-1 in doubles action during the month.
• An additional NM State doubles team - one comprised of the twosome of Gijs Akkermans and Corey Clarke - made some noise in the fall, too. The WAC Doubles Team of the Month for September, Akkermans and Clarke went 10-2 through their first 12 matches in the month of September and claimed the doubles title at the ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains hosted by Air Force.
• Jordy Visser is yet another returning face for NM State. Though he didn't compete in the fall, he did join up with Menard in the spring of 2021 in doubles action more often that not. That tandem put forth a 5-1 mark through dual match action one season ago.
SCOUTING UC RIVERSIDE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Like NM State, UC Riverside is gunning for its first win of the spring. The Highlanders suffered a 4-0 shutout home loss at the hands of Sacramento State last Friday.
• At the time the match was called, two of the Highlanders' singles bouts were in a decisive third set. Both Daniel Velek (flight two) and Justin Lamy (flight four) won their opening sets in last Friday's 2022 opener.
• Last season UC Riverside finished 2-12 and 1-6 in Big West action. Just one of its two wins came against NCAA Division I opposition.
• Nolan McCaig is one of the Highlanders' top returners from last season's squad. His 4-4 record in singles play featured the team's second-highest total of one-on-one victories while his three total doubles victories were the second-most among UC Riverside's ranks.
• UC Riverside didn't take part in any tournaments through the course of the fall.
SCOUTING WEBER STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Weber State has two dual matches under its belt thus far in 2022 and will be going in search of its first wins of the spring when it hits the courts at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
• The Wildcats dropped non-conference matches to BYU and Oregon by identical scores of 6-1 earlier in the month. Against BYU, top-flight singles player Arthur Serafim collected Weber State's first - and so far, only - one-on-one victory with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jack Barnet.
• Weber State secured the doubles point in its non-conference setback to Oregon back on Jan. 15. Jordan Coutinho and Matteo Savio earned a 6-3 win in flight two doubles action while Bo-Han Li and Chia-Chieh Lin were 7-6 winners on line three of tandem play.
• Coming back for his second season in Weber State colors is Sebastian Buxman who earned a spot on the All-Big Sky First Team for his prowess in singles play through 2020-21. Buxman went 11-3 a season ago in one-on-one matches and was one of the best freshmen in the league.
SCOUTING UNLV | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Opening weekend of the spring means hosting rights for UNLV as it welcomes Hawaii, NM State, UC Riverside and Weber State to the Fertitta Tennis Complex for multiple matches over the course of three days.
• None of the Rebels' three All-Mountain West performers from 2020-21 returned for the 2021-22 season, but a highly touted transfer - Christopher Bulus - made his way to Las Vegas in the offseason.
• Bulus claimed a top-flight singles title in his first action of the fall for the Rebels at the Larry Easley Memorial Classic. En route to his title at the UNLV-hosted event, Bulus didn't drop a single set and made a great first impression at the NCAA Division I level after being ranked as the nation's fourth-best player on the NCAA Division II scene at the University of Western Alabama in 2020-21.
• One of UNLV's most experienced players is Jordan Sauer who earned All-Mountain West acclaim in doubles play at the conclusion of the 2019-20 campaign. Last season in singles play, Sauer won each of his last seven matches in order to finish out the year with a 9-5 mark. He and Bulus are the lone seniors on the Rebels' roster.
SCOUTING HAWAII | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Led by one of the best singles player in the nation in Andre Ilagan, the Rainbow Warriors head to Las Vegas hoping to distinguish themselves as the team to beat in the Big West Conference.
• Ranked 11th in the latest edition of the ITA singles rankings, Ilagan made a run to the semifinals of the main draw at the ITA All-American Championship in Tulsa, Okla., as an unranked player last October. Ilagan impressed again at the ITA National Fall Championships in early November by advancing to the quarterfinal round at that tournament.
• Hawaii's matches in Las Vegas aren't its first competition of 2022. The Rainbow Warriors hosted the Hawaii Invitational from Jan. 6-8, getting a great showing from Simão Telo Alves in the process. The junior went 3-0 in singles action through the course of the three-day tournament en route to a Big West Player of the Week citation on Jan. 19.
• Limited to just nine dual matches in 2020-21, Hawaii went 5-4 and 3-3 in Big West play. The Rainbow Warriors made it to the semifinal round of the 2021 Big West Tournament, falling by a narrow 4-3 score to Cal Poly.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State readies for a pair of matches in one day at Pac-12 foe Arizona. The Aggies and Wildcats are scheduled to meet one another on the courts in Tucson, Ariz., on Sunday, Feb. 6, for dual matches at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
++NM State++
