Men's Tennis | Saturday 04/08/2017
SEATTLE – The New Mexico State men's tennis team battled in singles action and narrowly edged past UMKC on Saturday at the Championship Field Tennis Courts, 4-3, thanks to
Mauri Benitez's match clinching 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory on court No. 6 in singles play.
The Aggies (13-5, 4-0 WAC) dropped the doubles point for the first time since March 10 on Saturday. UMKC (8-8, 2-2 WAC) first took the win on court three when
Enrique Asmar and
Sergi Espias fell 6-3.
Stijn de Haan and Benitez teamed to tie things up at 1-1 in doubles action when they ousted UMKC's No. 2 doubles team 6-4.
Christofer Goncalves and
Luis Flores dropped their first doubles match in almost a month (March 11) at the top singles spot, giving the 'Roos the 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
De Haan gave NM State the tying point right off the bat in singles action with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over UMKC's Amaury Navette. Goncalves picked up his fifth-straight singles win and gave the Aggies a 2-1 lead when he defeated Airam Castellano 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
Sergi Espias then gave NM State match point when he ousted Tom Kruse 6-2, 6-3 on court No. 4.
Down 3-1, UMKC began its rally with 6-3, 7-5 win over
Enrique Asmar at No. 5 singles. Uldis Gaismins made things interested when he knotted the match up at 3-3. Despite Flores taking the first set, he wasn't able to fend off a charging Gaismins and dropped the match on court No. 2, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.
However, Benitez was able to pull off his counterpart on court No. 6 and kept the undefeated run for NM State alive in WAC play.
New Mexico State looks to secure its third-straight WAC regular-season title on Sunday, April 9, when it squares off against UT Rio Grande Valley at 1 p.m. (MT).
++NM State++
