Match Twenty-One
NM State (6-14, 2-0 WAC) vs. Seattle U (2-11, 1-1 WAC)
Friday, April 15 | 3:00 p.m. MT | GCU Tennis Facility | Phoenix, Ariz.
Match Twenty-Two
NM State at Grand Canyon (6-8, 2-0 WAC)
Saturday, April 16 | 11:00 a.m. MT | GCU Tennis Facility | Phoenix, Ariz.
Match Twenty-Three
NM State vs. Seward County Community College
Sunday, April 17 | 10:00 a.m. | NM State Tennis Complex | Las Cruces, N.M.
THE FIRST SERVE
• With its sights set on a WAC West Division regular-season title, the NM State women's tennis team readies for its final week of the regular season. NM State travels to Phoenix, Ariz., on Friday and Saturday for WAC matchups against fellow West Division combatants Seattle U (Friday) and Grand Canyon (Saturday).
• The Aggies make a quick trip back to Las Cruces following those matches for their final regular-season match of 2022. NM State plays host to non-conference foe Seward County Community College Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. from the NM State Tennis Complex.
• Three of NM State's last four matches have resulted in wins for the Aggies, including Sunday's hard-fought 4-3 triumph over longtime Texas rival UTEP. Natsuki Nishimura played the role of hero in that one, lifting the Aggies to victory with her three-set win on line three. Like the Aggies, Nishimura has won three of her last four singles outings to push her dual match record to 6-13 on the year.
• NM State and Grand Canyon are currently tied for first place atop the WAC's West Division standings. Should each team emerge as the victor in their first match of the week, that would set up a winner-take-all clash for the regular-season West Division title Saturday in Phoenix.
• Freshman Lisa Zhu added to her team-best singles win total last Saturday, too, nabbing her 11th of the season. The only Aggie with double-digit singles wins to their credit, Zhu has gone 7-3 through her last 10 outings.
• A rare week devoid of any doubles success saw the Aggies drop each of their tandem matches in non-conference action last week. Zhu and Chloe Gavino still maintain their status as the Aggies' best pairing, owning an 11-3 mark in top-flight tandem action which features a 2-0 showing against WAC West Division competition.
• Miranda Bishard and Bella Nguyen have enjoyed a good amount of success in doubles action, too. They hold a 7-5 record playing together and have won six of their last 10 outings.
SCOUTING SEATTLE U | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Eyeing consecutive dual match wins for the first time in 2022, Seattle U also hopes to move about the .500 mark in WAC play when it tangles with NM State in Phoenix.
• In their most recent matchup, the Redhawks scored a 4-3 home win over league adversary Chicago State. That win was Seattle U's first since mid-February.
• Seattle U has a collective 12-60 (.167) singles record through its dual matchups in 2022. A team-high three of those victories have come thanks to Mireia Fehr who won her last one-on-one outing and is 1-1 against WAC opposition.
• The doubles pairing of Liliya Dimova and Elena Kraleva have been on a tear as of late having won each of their last three matches. That duo has picked up two of the Redhawks' three WAC doubles victories, too.
• Seattle U has dropped each of its last two matchups against NM State. The Redhawks' last win over the Aggies came on April 27, 2018, when they grabbed a 4-1 win in the opening round of the 2018 WAC Tournament.
SCOUTING GRAND CANYON | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Like NM State, Grand Canyon is also undefeated in WAC West Region action and is seeking to hoist a regular-season championship trophy.
• Four of the last five matches for the Lopes have gone down as wins, pushing their overall record in 2022 to 6-8. After opening the season with back-to-back wins, GCU dropped seven-straight matches before finding its stride once again.
• The Lopes haven't dropped a singles match in WAC action, possessing a perfect 12-0 record in league one-on-one bouts. Fabienne Schmidt's (9-3) four-match winning streak as well as her nine total singles wins are both team bests.
• Right behind Schmidt on the Lopes' singles win charts are Natasha Puehse and Santa Strombacha who are both 8-5 and 2-0 in league action.
• Puehse and Strombacha have been one of GCU's - and the WAC's - best doubles teams this season. Their 10-2 mark while playing alongside one another accounts for nearly half of the Lopes' 22 total dual match doubles wins. That duo has won each of its last seven matches and is 8-2 through its last 10 tilts.
• Schmidt and Autumn Prudhomme recently reentered the win column, hiking their 2022 mark to 8-5 with that win.
• GCU has won its last three dual matches against NM State. The only loss the Lopes have suffered the Aggies in the last four outings came in the championship match of the 2019 WAC Tournament.
SCOUTING SEWARD COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• With just a pair of losses on their 2022 ledger, the Saints will be the Aggies' final regular-season opponent of the year.
• NM State and Seward County Community College last met on Feb. 26, 2021 in El Paso, Texas, in a match that handed the former its first victory of 2021. The Aggies secured a 6-1 win over the Saints that day, ceding only the sixth
flight singles bout.
COMING UP NEXT
• Once the results from this weekend are in the books, NM State will prep for the 2022 WAC Tournament. The Aggies hope to be one of the eight teams in contention for the league's postseason crown once the four-day tournament begins on Thursday at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Facility in Beaumont, Texas.
++NM State++
