Match Thirteen
NM State (3-9, 2-0 WAC) vs. Dixie State (4-11, 1-1 WAC)
Thursday, April 1 | 8:00 a.m. | Orville I. Cox Tennis Center | Edinburg, Texas
Match Fourteen
NM State vs. Tarleton
Friday, April 2 | 8:00 a.m. | Orville I. Cox Tennis Center | Edinburg, Texas
THE FIRST SERVE
• Just two teams are without a loss in Western Athletic Conference action so far this season and NM State is hoping to stay in that group as it heads to the campus of UTRGV in Edinburg, Texas, this week for another pair of WAC showdowns.
• The Orville I. Cox Tennis Center is where the Aggies will hunker down for matches against Dixie State on Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. and against Tarleton Friday morning at 8:00 a.m.
• NM State and Grand Canyon are tied for the top spot in the league standings with identical 2-0 record in WAC action.
• The Aggies' best doubles team in WAC play has been the pairing of Miranda Bishard and Lucija Josipovic. That duo is 2-0 in league matches, helping the Aggies to a 3-3 record in WAC doubles matches.
• Singles matches is where the Aggies have made their hay in league matches. NM State owns a 9-3 (.750) mark in WAC one-on-one bouts with Bishard, Harsha Challa and Gavi Kalaga each sitting at 2-0.
• Overall, Kalaga lead the team in singles victories. She has seven of them to her credit and heads to UTRGV hoping to snap a three-match losing skid.
• Challa joins Kalaga as the only players on the roster who have .500 or better records in singles action. Challa's 6-5 showing in one-on-one action has been produced entirely on line one.
SCOUTING DIXIE STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Coming into the second weekend of WAC play armed with a two-match winning streak, the Trailblazers own a 1-1 showing in their first season of WAC action thus far. Last Saturday, Dixie State defeated NCAA Division II combatant Colorado Mesa twice (7-0 and 6-1).
• The Trailblazers' lone victory against an NCAA Division I foe in 2021 came on Sunday, March 21, when they took down Seattle U by a 5-2 tally.
• Two players - Kyra Harames and Emma Templeman - have been responsible for amassing nearly half of the Trailblazers' singles victories this year. Harames has gone 4-10 in top-flight play while Templeman's 4-9 record included a perfect 3-0 showing in fourth-flight action. As a team, Dixie State is 20-63 (.241) in one-on-one play this season.
• Dixie State's only competitor with a .500 or better record in doubles action is Juliana Honczaruk. She has been part of five of the team's 12 doubles victories including one of its two in WAC action.
SCOUTING TARLETON | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• In their first season as an NCAA Division I program, the Texans are the owners of a 6-9 record and roll into Edinburg, Texas, having lost their last three matches.
• Friday, March 19, saw Tarleton win its first WAC match in program history. That day, the Texans took out Chicago State by a 6-1 score. Since then, Tarleton has dropped matches to Grand Canyon (6-1), Tyler Junior College (5-2) and Texas State (4-1).
• Martha Makantasi has served as the Texans' best singles competitor so far this season. Playing exclusively in flight three, Makantasi has constructed a 10-2 mark in one-on-one action.
• Celia Vaudiau has gone 9-4 overall in singles play and all nine of her wins have come on line five. Together, Makantasi and Vaudiau have combined to produce 18 of the Texans' 38 singles wins.
• In doubles play, Makantasi has teamed with Jemi Aguilar to post a 4-3 record. The Texans' top-flight doubles team is the only one on the squad who has earned a WAC victory this year.
• Four more doubles victories have been racked up by Mihaela Codreanu and Faustine Palatte. They have been slotted exclusively in the second flight and along with the team's top-flight doubles pairing of Aguilar and Makantasi have produced eight of the team's 17 doubles victories.
COMING UP NEXT
• Once they wrap things up in Edinburg, the Aggies will return to Las Cruces for the remainder of the regular season. NM State will close out its 2021 regular season campaign by playing four-straight matches at the NM State Tennis Center. That stretch starts on Friday, April 9, when the Aggies welcome Northern Arizona to town for a 3:00 p.m. non-conference tilt.
++NM State++
