The New Mexico State University men’s tennis team took to the court this past weekend in Tucson, Arizona to participate in the Wildcat Invite. The Aggies went up against rival school University of New Mexico as well as host school the University of Arizona along with players from Northern Arizona University, University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Gonzaga. The Aggies held their own in their doubles matches but struggled in their singles.
On the first day of the invite, the Aggies played both doubles and singles matches. The Aggies started with doubles in the morning and making their debuts were the dynamic duo, freshman Tobias Wallin and junior Gustavo Campos, who put the Wildcats pair Casper Christensen and Sasha Rozin in their places after winning the first match of the day for the Aggies 6-4. The Wildacts retaliated with Dominique Rolland and Eric Padgham defeated juniors Luca Fé D’Ostiani and Itay Feigin 6-3.
An unlikely duo arose during the doubles play on day one, NMSU’s Sophmore Henrik Lynum teamed up with rival school, UNM’s Arthur Bellegy. The Rio Grande team-up persevered through a hard-fought battle against NAU’s Lumberjack duo Lance Urlaub and Morgan Donovan 7-6 and 7-5. The two competed against Gonzaga’s Leon Roider and Pablo Gomez Galvan but the Rio Grande team-up dropped the match 6-4.
As the Aggies began their single matches, they faced tougher competition which proved to be overwhelming. The Aggies had six singles matches on the first day and despite hard fought battles, they returned home without a single match win.
Coming into day two, the Aggies struggled to find momentum and finished taking one doubles match but fell in every singles match once again. Feigin and Fe D’Ostiani brought home the lone victory, 6-4, against NAU’s pair Urlaub and Donovan. Despite his loss, Wallin was the only Aggie to push him into the third match, 7-6, 7-2, 7-5.
On the final day of the invite, the Aggies brushed off their past matches and brought home two more double matches and their first singles. In doubles, Feigin and Fe D’Ostiani held off NAU’s Piotr Galus and Daniel Torres to pull an early win for the Aggies over the Lumberjacks 6-4. Following in their footsteps were the dynamic duo, Campos and Wallin who demolished the Lumberjack duo of Dominik Buzonics and Jakub Prachar 6-1. In the final doubles match, NMSU’s Lohmann and Mathan faced off against NAU but were unable to pull a third win for the Aggies 6-4.
In singles play, the Aggies fought hard but were able to take on the onslaught from UNLV and NAU. Coming off a win in doubles, Wallin fought against UNLV Rebel Dusan Rsovac taking the first set and after an extreme fight also taking the third set 6-2, 1-6, 10-8.
The Aggies returned home on Sunday and have started to prepare for their next invitational, which will take the Aggies to Colorado Springs for the ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains.
