LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The fall season is officially upon us. For the second time in three years, the NM State women's tennis program will open the year on its home courts as they play host to the Aggie Invitational with competition set to begin on Friday morning and conclude on Sunday.
 
Joining the Aggies in Las Cruces this weekend will be student-athletes from UTEP, Abilene Christian and Western New Mexico. Doubles play is set to open each day and will begin at 10 a.m. on both Friday and Saturday while Sunday's matches will begin at 9 a.m. Singles play will then follow shortly after the conclusion of all doubles matches.
 
THE 2023 AGGIES
This year's roster consists of five returners from the 2022 roster and includes a trio of newcomers. Among the returners, sophomore Anna Pinaieva and junior Lisa Zhu will likely lead the charge for Head Coach Emily Wang's squad. Last season, Pinaieva had a breakout freshman year in which she posted a team-best 14-9 singles season during the spring while playing all but one match at the No. 1 spot.
 
Zhu maintained consistent play in her junior season as she turned in a 12-9 record in singles action – competing at the No. 2 spot for much of the year. Also returning from last season will be Valeriia Ivanovskaia, Dora Kurdi and Natsuki Nishimura. Ivanovskaia, a sophomore from Yekaterinburg, Russia, begins her first fall season with the Aggies after joining the team ahead of the spring semester in December 2022. During the spring, Ivanovskaia played in a myriad of positions as she appeared on lines one, two, three and four and racked up six singles wins.
 
Kurdi also begins her second year in Crimson and White after piecing together five singles victories during her freshman campaign. Meanwhile, Nishimura rounds out the group of Aggies back for another year. In 2022, Nishimura tallied five singles wins with the majority of her victories coming at the No. 3 spot.
 
During the offseason, the Aggies lost senior leaders Bella Nguyen and Miranda Bishard who combined to win 21 singles matches in the spring – leaving a sizeable hole for this year's team to fill. While most of that production is expected to come from the returners, Coach Wang will also look to the three newcomers for some added assistance.
 
The Aggies added Bethel College transfer Daniela Herrera, Presbyterian College transfer Varvara Nikolaeva and freshman Whitney Moon during the summer.
 
Herrera, a junior from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, will make her debut with the Aggies on Friday after posting back-to-back 10-win seasons in singles play at Bethel College where she competed at the No. 1 spot. As a sophomore, Herrera earned Honorable Mention NAIA All-America honors after being named All-KCAC First Team and KCAC Freshman of the Year in her first season at Bethel.
 
Nikolaeva becomes the second Russian player on this year's roster, joining Valeriia Ivanovskaia. In one season at Presbyterian College, Nikolaeva appeared in 17 singles matches, playing nine of those matches at the No. 3 spot.
 
Lastly, Moon will represent the lone freshman on this year's team and caps off a roster featuring no Americans as she hails from Grafton, New South Wales, Australia.
 
THE FALL SLATE
After opening the season at home, NM State will visit Abilene, Texas, where it will compete in the Wildcat Invitational on the campus of Abilene Christian University. This tournament is scheduled to begin on Friday, Sept. 29, with play wrapping up on Sunday, Oct. 1.
 
Ten days after the tournament in Texas, the Aggies will compete in the ITA Mountain Regional in Salt Lake City, Utah. This will serve as the largest tournament of the fall season for the Aggies as they will compete for five days (Oct. 11-15) against top competition from the region.
 
NM State will then wrap up its fall season in the first week of November as they make the trip south to El Paso, Texas, where they will take part in the UTEP Invitational on Nov. 3-5.

AGGIE INVITE
Friday, Sept. 15
10 a.m. - Anna Pinaieva/Whitney Moon (NMSU) vs. Masha Vrsalovic/Hebe Toyos (ACU)
10 a.m. - Natsuki Nishimura (NMSU)/Mann-Ning Li (WNMU) vs. Caini Wang/Kajsa Gedlitschka (WNMU)
10 a.m. - Dora Kurdi/Varvara Nikolaeva vs. Maryjoe Crisologo/Maria Cascos (ACU)

11 a.m. - Anna Pinaieva vs. Dora Kos (WNMU)
11 a.m. - Lisa Zhu vs. Maria Cascos (ACU)
11 a.m. - Whitney Moon vs. Olivia Sears (ACU)
11 a.m. - Natsuki Nishimura vs. Kajsa Gedlitschka (WNMU)
11 a.m. - Valeriia Ivanovskaia vs. Andreea Arnautu (WNMU)
11 a.m. - Dora Kurdi vs. Emma Jewell (UTEP)
 
FOLLOW THE AGGIES
Fans looking to keep up with the Aggies this weekend can track the Aggies on Twitter (@NMStateWTEN), Instagram (@NMStateWTEN) and Facebook (NM State Women's Tennis).