2022 WAC Tournament | Quarterfinals | WAC Tournament Central
Match Twenty-Four
#2 NM State (8-15) vs. #7 Chicago State (7-15)
Friday, April 22 | 11:00 a.m. MT | Beaumont, Texas | Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center
Live Results
THE FIRST SERVE
• With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the NM State women's tennis team sets out on a journey to Beaumont, Texas, in order to try and secure a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
• One of eight teams who comprise the field for the 2022 WAC Tournament, the Aggies are the second seed in the league's postseason tourney for the second-straight season and will begin their quest for the program's first WAC Tournament title since 2019 with a quarterfinal matchup against seventh-seeded Chicago State. First serve is set for 11:00 a.m. MT from the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center in south Texas.
• The Aggies have won two WAC Tournament titles in the history of their program. NM State's last league tournament crown came in 2019 while its first title came in 2015. All-time, the Aggies possess an 11-13 (.458) record in WAC Tournament matches.
• NM State and Chicago State have never crossed paths in the WAC Tournament prior to this season. Over the last seven matchups between the two programs, the Aggies have gone 6-1 (.857) and have won each of their last two dual matches against the Cougars.
• Few doubles pairings in the WAC have had as much success as the Aggies' top-flight tandem of Chloe Gavino and Lisa Zhu. Named to the All-WAC Doubles First Team Wednesday afternoon, Gavino and Zhu have gone 13-4 together this season. That mark includes a 3-1 showing against WAC competition in addition to nearly half of the team's 28 doubles wins in 2022.
• Slotted on line six, Miranda Bishard has given the Aggies a significant boost at the bottom of their singles list as of late. The Orlando, Fla., product is riding a five-match winning streak and has not lost more than three games in any of her last six sets.
• After dropping consecutive singles matches for the first time in 2022 back in early April, Zhu has bounced back nicely. The freshman from Beijing, China, has won three of her last four singles bouts to hike her 2022 dual match mark to a team-best 13-7.
• The only other Aggie who has amassed double-digit singles wins in 2022 is Gavi Kalaga. The Bhubaneswar, India, product got to the 10-win mark last Sunday and has posted a 10-13 overall mark which features a 3-1 showing against WAC foes.
• Like Kalaga, Natsuki Nishimura went 3-1 against WAC opposition in singles action this season. The junior has won three of her last four and four of her last six singles outings to move to 8-14 on the year.
SCOUTING CHICAGO STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• A 4-3 win over WAC foe Dixie State last Friday ended a seven-match losing skid for Chicago State and when they take on NM State in Beaumont, Texas, the Cougars will be hoping to secure back-to-back wins for the first time since early February.
• That win over the Trailblazers featured another singles triumph from the Cougars' leader in one-on-one victories, Katarina Dukic. The owner of a team-best 12-5 record, Dukic enters Friday's match having won each of her last two singles decisions as well as three of her four tilts against WAC competition in 2022.
• In addition to Dukic, Sofiya Sedovich also posted a 3-1 record against WAC foes in singles action during the regular season. Sedovich rides a three-match winning streak into her team's WAC Tournament quarterfinal matchup against NM State.
• Sedovich and Diana Borodina have joined forces to become the Cougars' best doubles pairing in WAC action. Borodina and Sedovich have gone 3-1 this season with all four of those doubles tilts coming against WAC opposition. That pair has secured all but two of the Cougars' five AWC doubles wins and is one of just three Chicago State doubles pairings who have posted a record above .500 through the 2022 campaign.
• Chicago State could have easily been 3-1 in league action instead of 1-3 this season. Three of the Cougars' four WAC regular-season matches went down in the books as 4-3 decisions with Chicago State winning just one of those one-point matches. In matches decided by a 4-3 final score this season, Chicago State went 1-4 (.200).
COMING UP NEXT
• With a win over the Cougars, the Aggies would advance to the semifinal round of the 2022 WAC Tournament. NM State's second-round opponent would be either third-seeded SFA or sixth-seeded Sam Houston with that semifinal bout scheduled for noon MT Saturday at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center.
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