LAS CRUCES, N.M. – With some changes due to travel for Mesa Community College, the NM State women's tennis team are slated to square off against the Thunderbirds at 10 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, at the NM State Tennis Center.
 
This will be the first dual match of the season for the T-Birds and the fourth for New Mexico State after having its match this past Sunday cancelled due to weather in Las Vegas.
 
STATE OF THE AGGIES
Heading into this week's match-up, freshman Rebecca Keijzerwaard and Las Cruces native Lindsay Harlas lead the team with 2-0 marks in dual action. Elizabeth Geronimo is 1-1 on the year while Rimpledeep Kaur, Eli Arnaudova and Vanessa Valdez are 1-2. Overall, the Aggies are 8-8 three matches into the dual season for singles.
 
The Aggie No. 2 doubles pair of Keijzerwaard and Valdez are 2-0 on the year. The No. 3 tandem of Arnaudova and Fanni Novak is the only other doubles team to register a win for NM State.
 
KEIJZERWAARD TABS PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR
Freshman Rebecca Keijzerwaard was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week this past Tuesday. This is the first-ever weekly honor for the freshman and the second-straight week NM State has garnered the award.
 
Keijzerwaard, an Oudenhoorn, Netherlands, clinched both the doubles point and match for New Mexico State against Weber State and was also in the lead against UNLV's Paola Artiga before the Rebels clinched the match.
 
The 5-8 righty teamed up with Vanessa Valdez, last week's WAC Player of the Week, to take down Weber State's pair of Sara Parker and Morgan Dickason in a tightly contested 7-6 win at No. 2 doubles. She then fought back down one set to beat Parker 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the third singles position.
 
She is now 2-0 in both singles and doubles action through her first three dual collegiate matches and helped Oregon finish the weekend 1-1 in Las Vegas.
 
AGGIES SPLIT WEEKEND IN VEGAS
Due to weather in Las Vegas last week, the NM State women's tennis team was only able to get two matches in, with one of them played in a shortened format.
 
The Aggies first squared off against the host, UNLV last Saturday. With bad weather on the horizon, teams in the morning agreed to play singles first with the match being clinched after four points. The Rebels led in 4-fo-6 matches against NM State and wound up winning 4-0 and handed the Aggies their first loss of the dual season.
 
However, New Mexico State was able to bounce back in its late afternoon match against Weber State at Fertitta Tennis Complex. The Aggies captured the doubles point thanks to wins at No. 3 and No. 2 doubles. Rimpledeep Kaur gave NM State an early 2-0 lead with her win at the top singles flight before Lindsay Harlas made it a 3-0 advantage with her win at the No. 6 slot. The Wildcats picked up a point at No. 5 singles, but it was too little too late with Rebecca Keijzerwaard pulling off the comeback victory in the third slot.