Match Twenty
NM State (7-12, 2-0 WAC) vs. Chicago State (8-11, 0-2 WAC)
Friday, March 25 | 8:00 a.m. MT | Thompson Family Tennis Center | Beaumont, Texas
Match Twenty-One
NM State vs. Seattle U (4-16, 0-2 WAC)
Saturday, March 26 | 8:00 a.m. MT | Thompson Family Tennis Center | Beaumont, Texas
THE FIRST SERVE
• Hoping to maintain its spot atop the Western Athletic Conference standings, the NM State men's tennis team heads to the campus of Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, for a pair of league tilts this weekend.
• The Aggies' two-match swing begins Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. MT with a tilt against Chicago State before they wrap things up with an 8:00 a.m. MT showdown with Seattle U Saturday morning at the Thompson Family Tennis Center.
• NM State sits in a three-way tie for first place in the WAC standings with Abilene Christian and Lamar. All three teams went a perfect 2-0 in their first two league matches of 2022.
• Gijs Akkermans and Corey Clarke are also hoping to keep up their hot streak in doubles play. Winners of three-straight doubles matches, NM State's second-flight pairing picked up WAC Doubles Team of the Week honors Wednesday afternoon following a 2-0 week in WAC play. Akkermans and Clarke possess the team's best doubles mark at 9-6 in 2022.
• A winner in each of his last five singles bouts, Louis Menard moved into a tie with Clarke for the highest singles win total on the team. Both players have seven one-on-one wins to their credit while Akkermans, Clarke, Menard and Jordy Visser have each gone 2-0 in WAC singles tilts.
• Over the past eight seasons, NM State has gone 30-5 (.857) in regular-season WAC matches.
SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• A five-match winning streak for Chicago State came to an end last weekend as the Cougars dropped both of their WAC matches on the opening week of conference play. Chicago State dropped decisions to Abilene Christian (4-0) and UTRGV (4-3) at the NM State Tennis Complex in Las Cruces, N.M.
• Those losses were not because of the efforts of Max Sandoval and Jakov Suler in doubles action. That tandem won each of its tilts last weekend, pushing its 2022 record to a perfect 6-0 in the process.
• Chicago State's best doubles pairing in terms of total wins is that of top-flight tandem Pedro Alvarez and Javier Sanchez Pradillo. Their 9-7 over all mark in dual matches included a 1-1 showing in WAC matchups.
• Only two Chicago State players possess records about the .500 mark in singles play. Included in that group is Hugo Hidalgo Vega who has gone 9-5 and 1-1 in WAC action while playing across lines four, five and six.
• Alvarez has added an 8-6 singles showing to the Cougars' team mark of 36-57. Seven of those eight victories have come on the top line.
SCOUTING SEATTLE U | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Hoping to put an end to a six-match losing skid, Seattle U heads to Beaumont, Texas, in search of its first WAC regular-season victory since March 27 of last year.
• Michael Frank and Mats Krause represent the Redhawks' top doubles team in terms of total win. That pairing has gone 7-9 through the 2022 campaign thus far.
• In addition to Frank and Krause, Seattle U boasts two doubles pairings who are above the .500 mark. Veselin Kiselkov and Julian Worn are 4-2 as are Oliver Hall and Filip Stipic.
• Singles play has seen the Redhawks put up a mark of 31-63 in dual match outings. Leading the way in the win column is Stipic and his 7-9 mark.
• Seattle U is hoping to snap a nine-match losing skid against NM State when the teams meet Saturday morning.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State's final regular-season matches of the 2022 campaign are set for early April in Abilene, Texas. The Aggies' final two WAC matches prior to the league's postseason tournament begin Friday, April 9, with a showdown against Lamar at the John T.L. Jones Tennis Building on the campus of Abilene Christian.
++NM State++
