WAC Tournament Semifinals | WAC Tournament Central
#2 NM State (6-10) vs. #3 Seattle U (4-12)
Saturday, May 1 | 1:00 p.m. | NM State Tennis Center | Las Cruces, N.M.
THE FIRST SERVE
• Saturday morning, the postseason run begins for the NM State men's tennis team as the second-seeded Aggies take on third-seeded Seattle U at 9:00 a.m. from the NM State Tennis Center. NM State is serving as the host institution for the 2021 WAC Men's Tennis Tournament.
• The Aggies have won three WAC Tournament titles in the history of their program. NM State's last league tournament crown came in 2018 while its first two titles came in 2015 and 2015. All-time, the Aggies possess a 14-11 (.560) record in WAC Tournament matches.
• NM State last hosted the WAC Tournament in 2017. That year, the top-seeded Aggies moved on to the championship match with a 4-0 win over Chicago State and fell 4-3 to second-seeded Kansas City in the league championship bout.
• Saturday's showdown is the second all-time matchup between NM State and Seattle U in the WAC Tournament. The Aggies are 1-0 against the Redhawks in WAC Tournament play after securing a semifinal win over Seattle U on April 26, 2015 in Kansas City. That year, NM State defeated UTRGV by a 4-3 score to secure a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
• Earlier this season, NM State secured a 6-1 triumph over Seattle U in Edinburg, Texas. The Aggies captured the doubles point and won five of six singles bouts to secure their eighth-straight victory over the Redhawks.
• Thursday morning, the WAC announced its list of All-WAC award winners. Senior Nicolas Buitrago secured an All-WAC First Team selection at number-two singles while junior Louis Menard and redshirt freshman Corey Clarke picked All-WAC Second Team singles honors. Clarke and Martin Simecek were recognized as an All-WAC Second Team doubles pairing while freshmen Petr Stavrovskij and Jordy Visser grabbed hold of All-WAC Honorable Mention citations.
• Buitrago, a two-time WAC Singles Player of the Week, heads into postseason play on a seven-match singles winning streak. The owner of a perfect 4-0 showing against WAC singles competitors, Buitrago hasn't lost a match since Feb. 21.
• Menard, the Aggies' singles wins leader, owns a 10-4 mark on the eve of his team's 2021 WAC Tournament debut. NM State's top-flight singles player, the Frenchman has won each of his last three matches and went 3-1 against WAC singles opponents this year. Both he and Buitrago are 8-2 over their last 10 matches.
• Clarke comes in having won the last six singles matches he has taken part in. In his debut season in Las Cruces, the Australian is 8-6 which includes a 3-0 mark in WAC action. Like Buitrago, his last defeat came on Feb. 21.
• Doubles play has been somewhat of a mixed bag for the Aggies, as they are 17-26 (.395) overall and 5-6 (.455) in WAC play. NM State's top pairing is that of Clarke and Simecek who are 5-6 overall and 2-2 against league doubles teams.
• It's Visser (7-7) who leads the team in total doubles victories and when playing alongside Menard that duo is 4-1.
SCOUTING SEATTLE U | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Each of the Redhawks' last two matches of the regular season resulted in losses, but they would like nothing better than to spring an upset while ending an eight-match losing streak against NM State.
• A little more than one-quarter of the Redhawks' singles victories have come off the strings of Julian Worn. His 6-10 record featured the most singles wins among Seattle U's ranks and he is the only Redhawk who defeated multiple WAC opponents in 2021.
• In doubles action, the duo of Lucas Cerbelli and Eli Ogilvy is one to watch out for. The Redhawks' top-flight doubles pairing has produced a mark of 5-5 which includes a 3-1 showing against WAC opponents. All told, Seattle U is 15-33 (.298) in doubles action through the 2021 campaign.
• Seattle U is going in search of its first WAC Tournament victory since April 29, 2016. That day, the Redhawks scored a 4-0 triumph over Chicago State in the quarterfinal round.
COMING UP NEXT
• Should they Aggies take down the Redhawks in their semifinal bout, they would move on to the 2021 WAC Tournament championship match. That showdown would begin at 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the NM State Tennis Center against either top-seeded Grand Canyon or fourth-seeded Chicago State.
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