LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State men's tennis team didn't get the start they wanted to at the H-E-B Tournament on Friday, dropping both of its matches to Troy and host Texas A&M -  Corpus Christi.
 
MATCH #1 – TROY 4 – NM STATE 2
Doubles play started out great for the Aggies with Stijn de Haan and Mauri Benitez taking down their counterparts at the top position 6-3. Troy (9-0) tied things up with a win at court No. 2 before Nicolas Buitrago and Luis Flores clinched the doubles point for NM State with a 6-3 victory on court No. 3.
 
TAMUCC got out to a quick start in singles, winning on court No. 5 over Enrique Asmar 6-2, 6-2 before Buitrago made it 2-1 in favor of the Aggies with a 6-2, 6-4 win at the No. 6 singles position over Antonio Selma.
 
Despite taking the first set, de Haan wasn't able to fend off the rally of Pelayo Antuna and fell 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 – which tied the match up at 2-2. Like de Haan, Martin Simecek had a one set lead but ultimately fell 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 before Louis Menard fell in the same manner 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 to give the Trojans the 4-2 win.
 
MATCH #2 – TEXAS A&M – CORPUS CHRISTI 4 – NM STATE 1
With available light dwindling, the match between host Texas A&M – Corpus Christi and New Mexico State went straight into singles action.
 
The Islanders drew first blood Friday evening, taking court No. 5 6-2, 6-1 over Enrique Asmar before Mauri Benitez tied it up with a 6-3, 6-3 win at the No. 4 singles position over Okkie Kellerman.
 
Martin Simicek had his hands full and dropped his match on court No. 3 7-6, 6-0 against Thomas Rodriguez before TAMUCC went up 3-1 with a win on court No. 6. Stijn de Haan battled as hard as he could at the top singles position in the second set but wound up falling 6-2, 7-5 to give the host Islanders a 4-1 victory.