ABILENE, Texas - Outside of a singles win from freshman Itay Feigin, the NM State men's tennis team couldn't get much of anything going Sunday morning in its regular-season WAC finale as the Aggies dropped a 6-1 decision at Abilene Christian.
The loss dropped NM State to 9-14 and 4-2 in WAC play on the year. Additionally, it means the Aggies will be the third seed for the upcoming WAC Tournament.
DOUBLES
• Hoping to lock up the second seed for the 2022 WAC Tournament, Abilene Christian took a step in the right direction thanks to a clean sweep in doubles action. Feigin and Martin Simecek managed to take just a pair of games from Cesar Barranquero and Riley Tran on line three. NM State's duo fell 6-2 in that showdown.
• Gijs Akkermans and Corey Clarke didn't fare much better up on line two, getting doubles up 6-3 against Savan Chhabra and Jose Maria Rastrojo.
• Though Abilene Christian had already locked up the doubles point, the two teams played out the top-flight battle. Like the second and third-line bouts, though, the Wildcats made all the right moves as Louis Menard and Jordy Visser were out-dueled by a 6-4 tally against Dario Kmet and Daniel Morozov.
SINGLES
• With the doubles point in hand, the Wildcats carried all of that momentum into one-on-one action. Abilene Christian kept on rolling when Barranquero secured a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Akkermans on line five to put the Aggies at a 2-0 disadvantage.
• Simecek grabbed just four games against Kmet on line two and that 6-3, 6-1 setback meant NM State faced a 3-0 deficit with four courts still in action.
• Clarke couldn't break up the shutout on line three and thanks to Tyler Stewart's 6-1, 6-4 win over the Australian Aggie the Wildcats clinched the match.
• Morozov walked away with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Menard in top-flight action before Visser lost his grip on an early lead during his 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 loss to Oswaldo Cano down on line six.
• Feigin's perfect weekend in singles action concluded with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Chhabra in flight four action.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State begins its run in the 2022 WAC Tournament on Friday, April 22 at 8:00 a.m. MT from the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center in Beaumont, Texas. The third-seeded Aggies are set to take on sixth-seeded Chicago State in the first of two quarterfinal bouts.
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