THE FIRST SERVE
• NM State's men's tennis program is set to head north for their third event of the young season as they compete in the ITA Division I Mountain Regional Championships beginning Thursday in Albuquerque, N.M.
• The five-day event is set for Thursday-Monday, Oct. 13-17 with play beginning at 8:30 a.m. each day.
• Heading into the weekend, the Aggies will be familiar with nine of the 14 schools competing as they saw the likes of Utah, Idaho, Montana State, Air Force, BYU, Boise State, Weber State, Northern Arizona and Denver just two weeks ago at the Bedford Cup.
• Included in the "unfamiliar" teams will be rival New Mexico while the Aggies will also see athletes from UNLV, Idaho State, Utah State, and Montana for the first time this season.
• Through a pair of competitions, Head Coach Carlos Vargas' squad has racked up 15 wins in singles play while adding another seven in doubles action.
• September WAC Doubles Team of the Month Corey Clarke and Roko Stipetic led the way for the Aggies in the opening tournaments as they finished 4-2 to claim the conference recognition.
• In singles play, NM State's top performers were Henrik Lynum (3-2) and Luca Fé D'Ostiani (3-4).
• This weekend's tournament will also serve as the pinnacle of the fall season as the Aggies will be off until January 22 following the regional.
• Additionally, several Aggies will be simultaneously competing in the Lobo Invite beginning Friday morning.
 
DOUBLES DRAWS
• Clarke and Stipetic will kick things off for the Aggies this weekend as they clash with Gustav Thielgaard and Moritz Stoeger of Montana in the opening round of the doubles bracket. This will be the lone NM State duo to represent the Aggies in the regional.
• Meanwhile, Yehor Opanasenko will see his first action of the season as he teams up with Luca Fé D'Ostiani in the Lobo Invite. They will draw Idaho State's Hiroki Fujita and Ege Cankus.
• The duo of Vassanth Mathan and Ryan Ford will be the final group in action this weekend as they are set to clash with AJ Moore and Jack Brown of Air Force in the Lobo Invite.
 
SINGLES DRAWS
• In singles play, Itay Feigin, Jordy Visser, Roko Stipetic and Corey Clarke will each be competing in the 64-man Mountain Regional bracket. Feigin will clash with the 11-seed in Sergi Mico Fenollar from Utah State, Visser will go head-to-head with UNLV's Dusan Rsovac, Stipetic will take on UNM's Rafael Abdulsalam and Clarke will line up across from Daniel Torres of Northern Arizona.
• The remaining five Aggies will be in action on the Lobo Invite side. Luca Fé D'Ostiani will play against Jacob Huppin of Montana State, Yehor Opanasenko will matchup against Brian Chen of BYU, Henrik Lynum will begin his weekend of singles action against Phillip Deaton of Air Force, Ryan Ford will take on Redd Owen of BYU and Vassanth Mathan will square off Owen's teammate Alex Lin.
 
COMING UP NEXT
• After five days of in-state competition, NM State will be off for three months before returning to action as they host Western New Mexico on January 22.
• For complete coverage of NM State men's tennis throughout the 2022-23 year, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics - and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Men's Tennis), Twitter (@NMStateMTEN) and Instagram (@NMStateMTEN).