Match Fourteen
NM State (2-11, 0-0 WAC) vs. UTRGV (10-4, 2-0 WAC)
Friday, March 25 | 1:00 p.m. MT | Stephenville, Texas | Potishman-Lard Tennis Courts
Match Fifteen
NM State at Tarleton (13-4, 2-0 WAC)
Saturday, March 26 | 1:00 p.m. MT | Stephenville, Texas | Potishman-Lard Tennis Courts
Match Sixteen
NM State at Abilene Christian (6-9, 0-2 WAC)
Sunday, March 27 | 10:00 a.m. MT | Abilene, Texas | John T.L. Jones Tennis Building
THE FIRST SERVE
• Western Athletic Conference (WAC) play begins this week for the NM State women's tennis team as the Aggies travel to the Lone Star State for three league matches in three days.
• The opening weekend of league action starts Friday afternoon in Stephenville, Texas, when NM State links up with UTRGV at 1:00 p.m. MT. Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. MT, NM State and Tarleton battle at the Potishman-Lard Tennis Courts before the Aggies travel to Abilene, Texas.
• NM State's three-match weekend ends with a league confrontation at Abilene Christian Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. MT at the John T.L. Jones Tennis Building.
• When it hits the courts in Texas, NM State will be hoping to string together back-to-back wins for the first time in 2022. The Aggies are coming off of a 7-0 shutout win over UT Permian basin Saturday at the NM State Tennis Complex.
• Lisa Zhu extended her singles winning streak to two matches last Saturday, pushing her team-leading singles win total to six in the process.
• Alongside Chloe Gavino, Zhu has gone 6-1 in doubles play, too. She and Gavino have won their last three doubles outings and are 4-1 in top-line tandem tilts.
• Fifth-year head coach Emily Wang is 9-7 in regular-season WAC matches as the Aggies' bench boss.
SCOUTING UTRGV | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• On a four-match winning streak and atop the WAC standings, UTRGV hopes to remain in line for a WAC regular-season crown when it takes on NM State Friday.
• UTRGV has already doubled its win total from 2021 - a season in which it finished 5-17 and 3-3 in WAC action. The Vaqueros' 10 wins make them one of two WAC squads to double-digit win totals at this point of the year.
• Doubles play has been a strong point for UTRGV as it owns a 22-9 (.710) overall mark in tandem play through the spring. Nearly half of those doubles victories have come between the pairings of Kristyna Mamicova and Sandra Putz (5-2) and Barbara Martinez and Marjorie Souza (4-0).
• Martinez and Souza possess identical 6-4 singles marks to top the Vaqueros' charts in that area.
SCOUTING TARLETON | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• One of the two teams tied atop the WAC's Southwest Division standings, Tarleton has won six of its last seven matches and both of its league tilts en route to a 13-4 start.
• Leading the way in singles action for Tarleton is Celia Vaudiau. Her 15-1 mark leads all WAC players and includes a 12-1 showing on line six. After dropping her first singles showdown of 2022, Vaudiau has won each of her last 15 outings.
• Martha Makantasi (12-4) and Elsa Boisson (11-5) are the two other Texans with over 10 singles victories to their credit in 2022.
• Boisson and Jemi Aguilar have linked up in doubles play as of late and have a 4-0 record to show for it. The Texans' other solid doubles team comes when Makantasi and Deniza Marcinkevica pair up. They have produced a perfect 4-0 when playing together, too.
• In all, Tarleton is 30-13 (.698) in doubles bouts and 60-31 (.659) in singles action so far in 2022.
SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Back at home for the first time since Saturday, March 5, Abilene Christian has its sights set on putting an end to a three-match losing skid when it takes on NM State Sunday morning.
• The Wildcats dropped their first two WAC tests of the season by the narrowest of margins, falling 4-3 to both SFA and UTRGV last weekend at Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas.
• In doubles play, it's the tandem of Allison Stewart and Sylvia Viljoen who lead the way for Abilene Christian. That pairing has gone 7-3 on the year thus far which includes a 6-1 showing on line two. Stewart has accounted for a team-high 10 of the Wildcats' 10 doubles wins after linking up with a total of three partners through 2022.
• Just one Abilene Christian singles player (Andrea Guerrero, 7-5) sits above the .500 mark in 2022 and four are right there at it. That includes Ileana Mocciola who is the owner of a team-best eight triumphs so far. Mocciola's best line has been number six as she possesses a perfect 4-0 mark when competing there.
• Maryjoe Crisologo has emerged as the victor in each of her last two one-on-one bouts to level her 2022 record at 6-6.
COMING UP NEXT
• The Aggies travel to the Pacific Northwest for two more WAC matches over the span of two days. NM State heads to Seattle, Wash., next week where it is set to tangle with Dixie State (Friday, April 1) and Chicago State (Saturday, April 2).
++NM State++
