Match One
NM State (0-0) vs. Colorado State (0-0)
Friday, Jan. 21 | Noon | Phoenix, Ariz. | El Paseo Racquet Center
Match Two
NM State at Arizona State (1-0)
Saturday, Jan. 22 | 3:00 p.m. | Tempe, Ariz. | Whiteman Tennis Center
Watch | Live Stats
Match Three
NM State at Arizona
Sunday, Jan. 23 | 2:00 p.m. | Tucson, Ariz. | Lanelle Robson Tennis Center
THE FIRST SERVE
• Back on the courts for the first time in three months, the NM State women's tennis team is set to begin the spring portion of its 2021-22 schedule this weekend. The Aggies will be in Arizona for a trio of non-conference bouts beginning with a Friday afternoon showdown with Mountain West Conference adversary Colorado State (noon).
• From there, the Aggies travel to Tempe, Ariz., for a matchup against Pac-12 foe Arizona State Saturday at 3:00 p.m. NM State closes out its opening weekend of dual match action Sunday at 2:00 p.m. from the Lanelle Robson Tennis Center with a tilt against Arizona in Tucson.
• NM State last competed at the Lobo Halloween Classic in Albuquerque, N.M., from Friday-Sunday, Oct. 29-31. The Aggies were scheduled to take part in the Stetson Invitational on the first weekend of November, but did not travel to DeLand, Fla., for the tournament.
• Freshman Lisa Zhu is hoping to continue her strong debut season this weekend in dual match action. Through the fall, Zhu accumulated nine singles victories on her way to a 9-2 one-on-one record. For her efforts, she was named the WAC Singles Player of the Month for October.
• Zhu was excellent in doubles play, too, going 8-2 while teaming with Chloe Gavino and Harsha Challa through the Aggies' fall slate.
• Zhu and Gavino were cited as the WAC Doubles Team of the Month for September of 2021 after posting a perfect 3-0 record at NM State's Aggie Invitational.
• Challa and Gavino are hoping to replicate their successes from the spring 2021 season. Both earned All-WAC Second Team singles honors while Gavi Kalaga was named an All-WAC Honorable Mention in singles action.
• NM State added another player to its ranks at the semester break. Natsuki Nishimura, an ITA NJCAA All-American in the junior college ranks in the 2020-21 campaign, comes to Las Cruces for the spring 2022 portion of the Aggies' season.
SCOUTING COLORADO STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• The Rams' Friday afternoon encounter with the Aggies serves as the spring season lid-lifter for both clubs.
• Colorado State put forth a 4-6 mark in the 2020-21 campaign which featured a 3-3 showing against fellow Mountain West clubs.
• Destinations such as Colorado Springs, Colo., Long Beach, Calif., Las Vegas, Nev., and Albuquerque, N.M., showed up on the Rams' itinerary for the fall portion of the season. The Rams' fall season culminated with a trip to the ITA Fall Nationals as two of their doubles teams qualified for the event for the first time in program history.
• The best doubles tandem the Rams boasted in the fall was that of Radka Buzkova and Matea Mihaljevic. That pair posted a sterling mark of 16-2 through their 18 fall matches, accounting for over half of the team's 31 total doubles triumphs. Included in their record was a hard-fought 7-6 (5) win over the Aggies' tandem of Harsha Challa and Lisa Zhu.
• Buzkova and Mihaljevic come into Friday's spring opener ranked as the 32nd best doubles team in the nation in the latest edition of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings.
• Buzkova's strong performances weren't limited to doubles action, though, as she put up a 10-4 mark in one-on-one action during the fall season. All told, just one of the Rams' players finished with a sub-.500 record in singles matches last fall.
SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• The only team on NM State's opening weekend schedule who has played a match this spring, Arizona State opened the spring portion of its schedule by claiming a 7-0 victory over Northern Arizona Monday afternoon.
• Arizona State competed in a total of six tournaments through its two-month fall stretch, a schedule which culminated with the Thunderbird Invitational in early November. Domenika Turkovic, who was a performer in flights four, five and six for the Sun Devils in 2020-21, went a perfect 6-0 in singles action at that event to wrap up the fall.
• Many new faces are what Arizona State boasts after it lost six players (five graduates, one transfer) from its 2020-21 squad that went 15-9 and made the cut for the NCAA Tournament for the 33rd-straight season.
• Sedona Gallagher is one of those new faces as the Washington transfer starts her first spring season for another Pac-12 program. Gallagher was a two-time All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention choice through her career with the Huskies and went 56-16 in singles action.
SCOUTING ARIZONA | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Instead of matching up with Baylor and Illinois earlier in the week, Sunday afternoon's matchup with NM State will serve as the Wildcats' 2022 spring opener.
• Arizona took part in four fall tournaments with Parker Fry emerging as the team's top single player during that stretch. Fry finished the fall with a single mark of 8-3, making her one of just two players the Wildcats had who notched a mark above .500 through the fall.
• Fry found herself partnered with eight different teammates in doubles action last fall and finished with a 3-10 mark in tandem play. As a whole, Arizona posted a 13-30 showing in doubles matches through its fall season.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State heads to one of the most populous areas in the Lone Star State to continue non-conference play. Next weekend, the Aggies are scheduled to take part in road matches at North Texas (Friday, Jan. 28) and at UT Arlington (Sunday, Jan. 30).
++NM State++
