PHOENIX - Gavi Kalaga secured the first singles win of the spring for the NM State women's tennis team, but her one-on-one victory was the only one the Aggies grabbed in their 6-1 setback to Colorado State at the El Paseo Racquet Center.
DOUBLES
• Tandem play could have gone either way for the Aggies after the pairing of Chloe Gavino and Lisa Zhu scored a 6-3 victory over Colorado State's twosome of Radka Buzkova and Sarah Weekley on line two.
• Unfortunately for NM State, the Aggies were forced to play from behind after the Rams grabbed wins on flights one and three. Harsha Challa and Natsuki Nishimura joined forces for the first time in 2022 in the top-line flight and dropped a 6-4 decision against Somer Dalla-Bona and Sarka Richterova.
• Colorado State sealed the doubles point by way of a 6-4 triumph in flight three. Kalaga and Miranda Bishard were on the wrong end of that score in their battle with Tracy Guo and Lucia Natal.
SINGLES
• Three of the six singles bouts went to three sets, but NM State found itself unable to obtain victories in any of those three setters.
• Gavino nearly forced a third set in her number-two flight showdown with Buzkova, but instead suffered a 6-0, 7-6 setback.
• Nishimura made her NCAA Division I singles debut on line three and dropped a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Dalla-Bona.
• Kalaga managed to cut into the Rams' lead by way of her 7-5, 6-3 win over Guo in flight five action, but Colorado State closed things out with wins on lines one, four and six.
• Challa came out of the gates strong and claimed the opening set against Richterova. Unfortunately, Challa couldn't sustain that momentum in sets two and three en route to a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 setback in top-flight action.
• Like Challa, Zhu won set one on line four before dropping her next two frames. NM State's freshman suffered a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 loss against Natal.
• Placed on line six, Bella Nguyen forced a third set in her bout with Anastasiia Kotsyuba but came up short in the final frame. Nguyen dropped to 0-1 on the year by way of a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 loss.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State puts the finishing touches on its opening weekend of the spring by making the short journey to Tempe, Ariz., for a Saturday afternoon showdown at Pac-12 foe Arizona State. First serve at the Whiteman Tennis Complex is set for 3:00 p.m. MT.
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