Match Three
NM State (0-2) at North Texas (2-0)
Friday, Jan. 28 | 1:00 p.m. MT | Warnach Tennis Complex | Denton, Texas
Match Four
NM State at UT Arlington
Sunday, Jan. 30 | 9:00 a.m. MT | UTA Tennis Center | Arlington, Texas
THE FIRST SERVE
• In search of its first victories of 2022, NM State heads to the Lone Star State for a pair of non-conference bouts in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area. The Aggies will match wits with North Texas Friday afternoon in Denton before heading to Arlington, Texas, to take on UT Arlington Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m.
• NM State is hoping to put an end to a four-match losing skid against North Texas when the two teams convene at the Warnach Tennis Complex Friday afternoon. The Aggies last met the Mean Green on January 19, 2020, and dropped a 6-1 decision to their C-USA foes.
• The Aggies are 4-4 in their last eight dual matches with North Texas with the team's last victory coming on March 2, 2007. NM State took down the Mean Green by a 6-1 tally that day.
• NM State is going in search of the program's first win over UT Arlington when the teams cross paths Sunday morning. The Aggies are 0-4 all-time against the Mavericks which included a 5-1 setback the most recent time the two squads battled back on March 4, 2018.
• Through its first two matches of the spring, NM State has just one singles victory to its credit. That one belongs to Gavi Kalaga who is 1-1 in singles play through her first two dual matches of 2022.
• Chloe Gavino and Lisa Zhu have grabbed the team's only doubles victory of the spring so far. That tandem bested Colorado State's duo of Radka Buzkova and Sarah Weekley on Friday, Jan. 21.
SCOUTING NORTH TEXAS | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Hoping to keep its perfect spring record intact, the Mean Green hits the courts of the Warnach Tennis Complex for the first time in 2022 Friday to tangle with the Aggies.
• Last week, North Texas scored wins over Abilene Christian (4-0) and Arkansas State (6-1) in its first two dual matches of 2022.
• Freshman Jasmine Adams was slotted on line one of singles play for the Mean Green through its opening week of 2022 and responded by going a perfect 2-0 in her pair of singles bouts. Saki Oyama (2-0) and Liisa Vehvilainen (2-0) each have a pair of dual match wins to their credit in singles play through North Texas' opening weekend, too.
• Adams and Lucie Devier are one of the Mean Green's two doubles teams who have yet to drop a dual match this spring. Like the tandem of Oyama and Vehvilainen, they are 2-0 in tandem action.
• Devier is coming off a 2020-21 campaign in which she was named the C-USA Newcomer of the Year. Last season, she partnered with Oyama to form one of the nation's top-60 doubles teams.
SCOUTING UT ARLINGTON | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• The Mavericks' matchup with the Aggies is the first half of a Sunday doubleheader for the hosts as well as the third dual match in the span of four days for UT Arlington.
• UT Arlington had its original 2022 spring opener postponed. The Mavericks were scheduled to take on Northwestern State out of the Southland Conference on Saturday, Jan. 22.
• Last season, UT Arlington posted an impressive 18-4 mark and won the Sun Belt Conference regular season crown by way of going 8-0 in league action. The Mavericks were denied a trip to the NCAA Tournament, though, after falling to second-seeded Georgia Southern by a 4-2 score in the Sun Belt Tournament semifinal bout.
• Returning for their senior years to lead UT Arlington are Momoka Horiguchi and Carla Pons. An All-Sun Belt First Team singles performer last season, Horiguchi went 9-4 in dual meet action last season as the Mavericks' top-flight entrant. For Pons, she piled up a record of 16-2 which featured a perfect 5-0 mark against Sun Belt opposition.
• Liz Chileno is another returner to keep an eye on for UT Arlington after she went 7-8 and 3-1 in Sun Belt Conference action in singles play a season ago.
• Horiguchi and Bruna Casasampere were one of the Mavericks' best options in double action last year. They put up an 8-3 showing in tandem play through 2020-21 which featured a 3-1 mark in Sun Belt Conference tilts.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State readies for a run of three matches in the span of six days. The Aggies are set to host Arizona at the NM State Tennis Center at 3:00 p.m. Monday afternoon before making the trip to Norman, Okla., to take on another Power Five club. NM State will play two matches at Oklahoma on Saturday, Feb. 5, at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. MT.
++NM State++
