Fall Season | Event One
Aggie Invitational
Friday-Sunday, Sept. 17-19 | 9:00 a.m. start time each day | NM State Tennis Complex | Las Cruces, N.M.
Doubles Draws | Grey Singles Draws | White Singles Draws | Crimson Singles Draws
THE FIRST SERVE
• Just over four months after appearing in the 2021 WAC Women's Tennis Tournament championship match, the NM State women's tennis team returns to the courts of the NM State Tennis Complex where it will begin its fall season by hosting the Aggie Invitational.
• The three-day invitational is set to begin at 9:00 a.m. each day (Friday-Sunday, Sept. 17-19).
THE FIELD
• In addition to NM State, competitors from six other institutions are headed to Las Cruces to take part in the ITA-sanctioned fall tournament. Abilene Christian, Arizona Christian, NMMI, New Mexico, UTEP and Western New Mexico will have student-athletes competing across all four bracket throughout the three-day invitational.
THE DOUBLES DRAWS
• Of the four doubles teams NM State is fielding for the event, only two will take to the courts Friday morning.
• Melissa Cartis will make her Aggie debut alongside Bella Nguyen and that duo will battle Arizona Christian's tandem of Deondra Bacchus and Vittoria Quadri Friday at 9:00 a.m.
• Miranda Bishard and Gavi Kalaga will be NM State's only other doubles team in action Friday. They'll duke it out with UTEP's Thassane Abrahim and Veronika Lebisova.
• The remaining three NM State doubles teams - Chloe Gavino and Mingfang Zhu as well as Harsha Challa and Georgia Townsend - are scheduled to begin their run in the doubles bracket round of 16 Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m.
THE SINGLES DRAWS
• NM State is sending seven of its student-athletes to compete within the three different singles brackets. The Grey Singles bracket features Cartis and Nguyen with the latter getting her run started at noon against UTEP's Laura Schmitz. Nguyen's singles stint begins at 2:00 p.m. Friday afternoon against an opponent to be named.
• Over in the White Singles bracket are Kalaga and Zhu. Kalaga finds herself pitted in a first-round matchup against Western New Mexico's Julia Terrazas Friday at noon while top-seeded Zhu received an automatic bye to the quarterfinal round of the bracket. Her match will begin at 1:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.
• It's the Crimson Bracket which features the largest population of NM State competitors as Challa, Gavino and Townsend represent three of the 16 competitors.
• Challa meets Arizona Christian's Quadri in her first round match while Gavino has been slotted to challenge UTEP's Lina Sachica. In her first singles tilt in an NM State uniform, Townsend tangles with New Mexico's Yue Lin "Polly" Chen. All of the Crimson Bracket matches will begin at 10:00 a.m. Friday morning.
COMING UP NEXT
• Once their first - and only - event of the month is in the books, the Aggies take a break of nearly one month before hitting the courts once again. Next on NM State's docket is a trip to Las Vegas where they'll take part in the ITA Mountain Regional hosted by UNLV. The five-day regional tournament is scheduled for Wednesday-Sunday, Oct. 13-17 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
• For complete coverage of NM State women's tennis, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics - and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Women's Tennis), Twitter (@NMStateWTEN) and Instagram (@NMStateWTEN).
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