LAS CRUCES, N.M. – In what was their third match in as many days, the Aggies showed some exhaustion as they fell 5-2 to Tarleton at the NM State Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
NM State welcomed its former league foe for the first time since 2013, and for the first time in the history of the series the visiting team escaped with a victory. After clinching the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, the Texans won four of the six singles matches to hand the Aggies their first loss of the season.
 
In doubles action, the lone Aggie team to tally a win was the duo of Valeriia Ivanovskaia and Lisa Zhu as they knocked off Tarleton's Adeliya Mukutdinova and Noelia Lorca. The commanding 6-1 win also leaves Ivanovskaia and Zhu the last undefeated Aggie pair this season.
 
Later, Ivanovskaia and Zhu would continue to prove tough as they were the only two Aggies to collect wins in singles action. At the No. 2 spot, Zhu secured a 6-4 win in the first set before earning a narrow 7-6 victory in the second set.
 
Meanwhile, Ivanovskaia won her first set against Tarleton's Clara Sobius 7-5 before Sobius won the second set to force a third, deciding set. In the third set, Ivanovskaia completely took over and earned the nod in the match with a 10-4 win in the final frame.
 
UP NEXT
NM State will now prepare for a road trip to East Texas where they will see North Texas in Denton, Texas, on Feb. 1, before traveling to Nacogdoches, Texas, to face off with Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 3 and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 4.
 
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