Aggie Tennis On A Roll
by NMSU Athletics
The Aggies avenge a 5-2 loss to the Rams from a year ago and improve to 6-2 on the year while the Rams fall to 1-2.
NMSU lost all five matches last season that were decided by one point, but this year the Aggies have won both 4-3 matches. Today’s victory gives
“The bottom line is we’re very happy with the 4-3 victory over a solid that beat us last year,” assistant coach Ivan Fernandez said. “I feel like we are coming together as a team and even when some of us aren’t having our best day, we are still finding ways to find four points to win matches.”
The Aggies got the day started off right by taking the doubles point from the Rams. Senior Zeljka Juricek and junior Stephanie Eusebe were the first off the courts after defeating Laura Neal and Anette Pohjalainen 8-2 at No. 2.
After CSU took the No. 3 doubles match, sophomores Aleksa Costa and Sophia Marks played an exciting match at No. 1 and battled their way back from being down 2-0 early to pull out the 8-6 victory in an hour and 15 minutes to lock up the team point for NMSU.
In singles action Marks needed little time to defeat Lauren Strasburger, 6-1, 6-1 at the top spot. Senior Anne Fagegaltier gave the Aggies their third team point with her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Pohjalainen at No. 4 to bring NMSU within one point of the victory.
However, just as the Rams were closing in on the Aggies junior Paulina Zuniga locked up the victory for NMSU with her come-from-behind win over Greer Satherlie. Zuniga fell 6-1 in the first set, but came surging back to win the second and third sets without surrendering a point at No. 5.
New Mexico State concludes its seven-match home stand next weekend with a pair of tough matches against North Texas (Feb. 23) and Air Force (Feb. 24). The Aggies are currently 4-1 in this home stretch and are looking to build on to their momentum heading into the second half of the season.
NMSU 4,
Doubles:
1. Marks/Costa (NMSU) def. Strasburger/Tyler (CSU); 8-6
2. Eusebe/Juricek (NMSU) def. Neal/Pohjalainen (CSU); 8-2
3. Sarah Seltsam/Kirsten Stople (CSU) def. Fagegaltier/Zuniga (NMSU); 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles:
1. Sophia Marks (NMSU) def. Lauren Strasburger (CSU); 6-1, 6-1
2. Hilary Tyler (CSU) def. Zeljka Juricek (NMSU); 6-0, 6-0
3. Laura Neal (CSU) def. Stephanie Eusebe (NMSU); 6-7, 6-1, 1-6
4. Anne Fagegaltier (NMSU) def. Anette Pohjalainen (CSU); 6-4, 6-3
5. Paulina Zuniga (NMSU) def. Greer Satherlie (CSU); 1-6. 6-0, 6-0
6. Caitlin Fluegge (CSU) def. Aleksa Costa (NMSU); 6-2, 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 3
