Match Eight
NM State (1-6, 0-0 WAC) vs. UTRGV (2-9, 0-0 WAC)
Friday, March 19 | 11:30 a.m. | Trailblazer Tennis Courts | St. George, Utah
Match Nine
NM State vs. Seattle U
Saturday, March 20 | 8:00 a.m. | Trailblazer Tennis Courts | St. George, Utah
THE FIRST SERVE
• For the first time since April of 2019, the NM State women's tennis team will engage in Western Athletic Conference (WAC) competition. The Aggies are bound for the campus of Dixie State in St. George, Utah, where they'll tangle with league adversaries UTRGV and Seattle U in the opening weekend of WAC women's tennis action.
• The COVID-19 pandemic put an end to the Aggies' spring 2020 season before they could start WAC play, but in 2019 NM State compiled a 3-2 record against league foes in regular-season WAC tilts. NM State went on to win the WAC Tournament, too, and advanced to the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
• NM State rolls into WAC play led by junior Gavi Kalaga who is the owner of the team-best 5-1 record in singles action. Kalaga is riding a five-match winning streak in one-on-one play and has been responsible for a little over one-third of the team's 14 singles victories in 2021.
• In doubles play, Kalaga has teamed with Harsha Challa to amass a team-leading three doubles wins this year, too.
• The Aggies are 1-1 all-time against UTRGV during Emily Wang's tenure as the program's head coach. Against Seattle U, NM State is 1-2 with Wang leading the program.
SCOUTING UTRGV | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Both of the Vaqueros' victories thus far in 2021 have come against non-NCAA Division I foes and when they hit the courts in St. George, Utah, they'll be hoping to put an end to a two-match losing skid. UTRGV constructed a 3-2 record in WAC play during the 2019 season and dropped a WAC Tournament semifinal match to top-seeded Grand Canyon back on April 27, 2019.
• Lea Karren has proven to be a stabilizing force for UTRGV in the lower flights. Her 5-1 overall record this year includes a perfect 5-0 mark on line six of singles action and no other member of the team has recorded more than three singles victories thus far.
• A pair of doubles teams - one of which consists of Valeria Montero and Karren - have helped UTRGV experience some success in tandem play. Montero and Karren are the owners of a 4-0 mark in doubles action with all of their matches occurring on line three. Up on line two, the twosome of Isabelle Bahr and Katarina Sasaroga has played its way to a perfect 5-0 record. As a team, UTRGV is 13-19 (.406) in tandem action.
SCOUTING SEATTLE U | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• In the hopes of ending a 13-match losing streak which dates back to February of 2021, the Redhawks head to Utah to take on both NM State and Dixie State for their first two WAC showdowns of 2021.
• Seattle U has gone a combined 4-41 (.089) in singles action through its eight 2021 matches and no player has racked up more than one singles victory. Hannah Gianan, Jade Lancaster and Peggy Rooke each have a single one-on-one triumph to their credit.
• In doubles play, the Redhawks are a collective 1-21 (.045) with the only win in tandem play going to their second-flight pairing of Hannah Grossman and Rooke.
• The team's last victory came on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 via a 6-1 result against Whitman College. Seattle U hasn't won a WAC match since April 6, 2018.
COMING UP NEXT
• The Aggies step out of WAC action next week and travel to Arizona for a trio of matches. That three-match stretch starts Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. when NM State faces off against Pac-12 adversary Arizona State at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
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