PHOENIX - With the WAC West Division regular-season title coming down to the final day of the regular season, the NM State women's tennis team picked up a pair of singles wins but was denied the league's West Division crown after suffering a 5-2 loss to Grand Canyon Saturday at the GCU Tennis Center.
By getting the win, the Lopes grabbed the WAC West Division regular-season title as well as the top seed for the upcoming WAC Tournament.
DOUBLES
• Grand Canyon found itself ahead in its final regular-season home match of the season after taking two of the three doubles matches. Miranda Bishard and Bella Nguyen took only a pair of games from Sara Rakim and Jana Weiss on line three, falling by a 6-2 tally.
• The hosts clinched the doubles point shortly thereafter when Gavi Kalaga and Natsuki Nishimura dropped a 6-2 decision to Autumn Prudhomme and Fabirnne Schmidt.
• A clean sweep wasn't in the cards for Grand Canyon, though, as one of the best tandems in the WAC returned to the win column. Chloe Gavino and Lisa Zhu manufactured a 6-3 top-flight victory over Natasha Puehse and Santa Strombach. The win by Gavino and Zhu put an end to the eight-match winning streak the Lopes' top-flight tandem rode in on and also handed Puehse and Strombach their first league setback of 2022.
SINGLES
• The Lopes' insurmountable lead grew to 2-0 shortly after one-on-one play started. Gavino took a total of five games against Puehse in top-line action, falling 6-2, 6-3 in her showdown.
• NM State managed to cut into Grand Canyon's edge down on line six. Bishard continued her stretch of strong singles play by picking up a 6-3, 6-1 win over Rakim. Her third-straight win in singles play cut the Lopes' lead to 2-1 before the hosts responded in a big way.
• After coming through with a match-clinching singles win Friday, Nguyen didn't enjoy the same success against Prudhomme. NM State's sophomore was on the wrong end of a 6-2, 6-4 score which put the Aggies at a 3-1 disadvantage.
• Nishimura looked primed to make it a one-point match once again by coming out of the gates on fire against Strombacha on line three. Unfortunately, Nishimura's early success didn't last throughout the match as she fell 3-6, 6-0, 6-0. That loss sealed the match for Grand Canyon.
• Zhu bounced back from Friday evening's singles loss by gutting out her team-leading 12th singles win of the 2022 season. Her 6-2, 7-5 (7-5) victory over Schmidt up on line two allowed the Beijing, China, product to even up her WAC singles mark at 2-2.
• Like Nishimura, Kalaga hit first against Weiss on line five. Unfortunately, the Lopes' fifth-flight competitor answered with wins in sets two and three to claim a 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 win. The loss was Kalaga's first in WAC play this season
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State heads to Beaumont, Texas, for the 2022 WAC Tournament. The Aggies will play their first-round match at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center on Friday.
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