Match Twenty-Two
NM State (9-12, 4-0 WAC) vs. Lamar (14-6, 4-0 WAC)
Saturday, April 9 | 4:00 p.m. MT | John T.L. Jones Tennis Building | Abilene, Texas
Match Twenty-Three
NM State at Abilene Christian (9-11, 3-1 WAC)
Sunday, April 10 | 10:00 a.m. MT | John T.L. Jones Tennis Building | Abilene, Texas
THE FIRST SERVE
• Championship week has arrived for the NM State men's tennis team as the Aggies take aim at the WAC regular-season league crown in the final week of the regular season .
• NM State heads to Abilene, Texas, where the league's championship will be decided at the John T.L. Jones Tennis Building. Things get going Saturday afternoon in a battle of the league's top two squads as NM State takes on Lamar at 4:00 p.m. MT. The Aggies and Cardinals are tied for first place in the WAC standings.
• The Aggies' two-match swing in Texas concludes Sunday morning with a matchup against Abilene Christian. First serve is set for 10:00 a.m. MT.
• Riding a four-match unbeaten streak, NM State has gone a collective 18-5 (.783) in WAC singles matches as well as 10-1 (.909) in WAC doubles tilts. Three Aggies - Gijs Akkermans, Corey Clarke and Louis Menard - possess perfect 4-0 record against WAC opposition in singles action this season.
• Menard's team leading singles win total of nine has come thanks to a seven-match winning streak. The Aggies' top-flight player is 7-2 through his last 10 matchups.
• Like Menard, Clarke has nine singles wins to his credit and has emerged as the victor in each of his last four bouts.
• Playing together in double action, Akkermans and Clarke have been one of the league's best pairings. They are riding a five-match winning streak to push their team-best tandem mark to 11-6 and 4-0 in league action.
• Menard and Jordy Visser are also undefeated against WAC foes in doubles play. NM State's top-line pairing has won four consecutive matches and is 3-0 in league action.
• NM State goes in search of its fifth WAC regular-season title since 2015 this weekend. The Aggies have won league championships in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2021 (shared with Grand Canyon).
SCOUTING LAMAR | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• In the midst of a six-match winning streak, Lamar has its eyes on a WAC regular-season title much like NM State.
• The Aggies and Cardinals are knotted atop the league standings, making Saturday's matchup between the two programs vital for the regular-season title hopes of both squads.
• Leading the way in singles play for Lamar is the freshman duo of Martin Garcia-Ripoll and Daniel Sancho Arbizu. Both have won their last five one-on-one tilts and neither has suffered a setback against a WAC foe thus far in 2022.
• Garcia-Ripoll's record of 14-3 has seen him play on lines two, four, five and six throughout the season while Sancho Arbizu (13-4) has been the Cardinals' top-flight singles option from day one of the 2022 campaign.
• In addition to Garcia-Ripoll and Sancho Arbizu, both Max Amling (10-8, 3-1 WAC) and Juan Jose Rodriguez (11-6, 2-2 WAC) both have 10 or more singles wins to their credit in 2022.
• As a whole, Lamar possesses a 69-44 (.611) mark in singles tilts this spring. Included in that record is a 16-6 (.737) showing against WAC opponents.
• Garcia-Ripoll and Joshua Taylor represent the Cardinals' top doubles pairing as of this writing. Lamar's third-flight duo, they have won each of their last six matches, are 4-0 in WAC action and 14-3 on the year.
• Over on line two in doubles play, Max Amling and Filippo Salsini have gone 11-6 which includes a 4-0 mark in league tilts. Like NM State, Lamar's doubles teams have posted a 10-1 showing against WAC squads.
• Lamar and NM State are meeting for the first time since March 6, 2015. That day, the Cardinals walked away with a 4-0 win at the H-E-B Tournament of Champions in Corpus Christi, Texas.
SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Hoping to vie for one of the top two seeds in the 2022 WAC Tournament, Abilene Christian has the benefit of playing on its home court for the final regular-season weekend of league action.
• The Wildcats already have a win over the Aggies on their 2022 ledger this season, having defeated NM State by a 4-1 score at the H-E-B Tournament of Champions on the campus of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi back on Saturday, Feb. 19.
• In that match, NM State won the doubles point but after playing out a 4-3 marathon match against DePaul the previous night the Aggies ran out of gas when faced with an early turnaround.
• After starting 4-6 through his first 10 singles bouts of the dual match season, Cesar Barranquero has been on a tear as of late. Riding a six-match winning streak, Barranquero has hiked his record to 10-6 and hasn't dropped a match in WAC action.
• Oswaldo Cano (6-3) and Dario Kmet (8-8) rank just behind Barranquero in terms of total singles wins. The latter has been the Wildcats' flight two player all season while Cano has taken part in matches on lines four, five and six throughout the 2022 campaign.
• Savan Chhabra (9-9) and Daniel Morozov (8-8) top ACU's charts in terms of doubles matches won. The two have played alongside one another six times and have a 3-3 mark to show for it.
• ACU comes into the weekend having won five of its last six matches.
COMING UP NEXT
• NM State will enjoy a break of almost two full weeks before making a second trip to Beaumont, Texas, where it will try gain entry to the NCAA Tournament field. The 2022 WAC Tournament is scheduled to take place at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center from Friday-Sunday, April 22-24. NM State's seed and first-round matchup will be announced at a later date and time.
++NM State++
