SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Junior Louis Menard continued his mastery in singles action, but the NM State men's tennis team came up just short of victory Friday morning, falling 4-3 to Nevada at the Sacramento State Tennis Courts. The match was the first for both teams in the six-team Golden State Invitational.

DOUBLES
• Thanks to the prowess of Nicolas Buitrago and Jordy Visser, the Aggies were able to obtain an early edge in doubles play. NM State's top-flight team generated a 6-2 win over the Wolfpack's Isaac Nortey and Juan Batalla.
• Neck-and-neck matches on lines two and three, however, went the way of Nevada. Menard and Petr Stavrovskij wound up on the wrong end of a 7-6 battle with Satchel Benn and Loris Zisswiller on line two while Corey Clarke and Martin Simecek lost 7-5 in their third-flight showdown.

SINGLES
• Clarke managed to equalize things once one-on-one play began. The redshirt freshman took down Zisswiller 6-3, 6-4 in fifth-flight play.
• The back-and-forth play continued all through singles play as Nevada regained the lead thanks to a 6-4, 6-1 win by Batalla on line four.
• Buitrago pulled NM State even again, downing Nortey 6-3, 6-1 in second-flight action, but once again the Wolfpack had the answer. Simecek suffered a 6-3, 6-3 loss to Daniel Dudockin on line three.
• Menard managed to give the Aggies life again by conjuring up a 6-3, 6-3 win in his tilt with Delmas N'Ttcha in top-flight action.
• Flight six, however, was where the winning ball was played. Gijs Akkermans forced a third set against Benn with a 6-2 triumph in set two, but the Wolfpack's freshman walked away with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 win to clinch the match for Nevada.

COMING UP NEXT
• NM State will attempt to salvage a split in its two-match weekend at the Golden State Invitational. Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m., the Aggies battle UC Davis at the Marya Welch Tennis Center.

++NM State++