Full Releases in PDF Format: Men / Women
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
MEN
No. 2 NM State defeated No. 1 Missouri-Kansas City to claim the WAC Tennis Tournament title Sunday at the Brownsville Tennis Center. With the win, the Aggies earn the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
UMKC came out early taking the doubles point with wins on court one by WAC Player of the Year Airam Castellano and Mike Psarros over Strahinja Trecakov and Liam Goldberg, 7-5, and on court three with Andrey Smirnov and Vinh Pham beating Mauri Benitez and Enrique Asmar, 7-6 (7-3).
In singles, Castellano picked up another point, beating Trecakov, 6-4, 6-1 to put the ‘Roos up 2-0. The Aggies were not going to give up as they picked up the next two points to tie it up with Goldberg winning on court three, 6-3, 6-2 over Uldis Gaismins and Benitez winning on court five over Pham, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
Amaury Navette defeated Asmar, 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) on court six to regain the lead for UMKC. NM State's Stijn de Haan defateed Psarros, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 on court four to tie it up again.
With the score tied 3-3, it all came down to court two. Christofer Goncalves clinched the WAC title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with the win over Smirnov, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3. Just a sophomore, this is Goncalves' second time clinching the championship for the Aggies.
WOMEN
No. 2 UT Rio Grande Valley defeated No.1 NM State to claim the WAC Tennis Tournament title Sunday at the Brownsville Tennis Center. With the win, the Vaqueros earn the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
NM State took the early lead as Erika Castillo Lopez and Gabrielle Joyce defeated Reegan Greenwood and Tara Donaho, 6-2 on court one and Ashvarya Shrivastav and Rimpledeep Kaur beat Dominique Esparza and Natacha Minc, 6-2 on court two to take the doubles point.
The Aggies kept their momentum going as Kaur picked up the first singles point on court two, beating Esparza, 6-3, 6-3. The Vaqueros never gave up as Doris Aleksovska defeated Lindsay Harlas, 6-2, 6-4 on court five. On court four, UTRGV's Dominique Ibarra beat NM State's Erika Castillo Lopez 6-4, 6-4.
After being tied up 2-2, UTRGV's Minc beat Chloe Jolliff, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 on court three and clinching the WAC championship and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament was WAC Freshman of the Year, Donaho, beating Mia Brandt, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 on court six.
POST SEASON ACTION
MEN
The 2016 WAC Tournament Champion NM State men's tennis team will take on No. 8-seed Texas Tech in the NCAA Tournament in Lubbock, Texas on May 14.
The Aggies (12-9) are making its second-straight NCAA Tournament birth after defeating Missouri-Kansas City in a thrilling match in the WAC Tournament title match Sunday.
NM State takes on Texas Tech (27-5), which finished second in the Big 12 Conference, after dropping to TCU in the conference championship, 4-2.
The winner of each first and second round site advances to the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. where the 16 teams will compete for the national championship May 19-30. The University of Tulsa will host the event.
WOMEN
The 2016 WAC Tournament Champion UT Rio Grande Valley women's tennis team will take on No. 1-seed California in the NCAA Tournament in Berkeley, California on May 13.
The Vaqueros (11-10) are making their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance at the Division 1 level after defeating former WAC champion NM State in a thrilling match in the WAC Tournament title match Sunday.
UTRGV takes on California (19-1), which finished third in the Pac-12. The Bears had their hopes for a perfect season dashed with a loss to Stanford in the final regular season match of the year.
The winner of each first and second round site advances to the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. where the 16 teams will compete for the national championship May 19-30. The University of Tulsa will host the event.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS ANNOUNCED
MEN
The 2016 Men's All-Tournament Tennis team has been announced, as voted on by the participating coaches.
All-Tournament Singles
Christofer Goncalves, NM State
Mauri Benitez, NM State
Stijn de Haan, NM State
Airam Castellano, Missouri-Kansas City
Amaury Navette, Missouri-Kansas City
Liam Goldberg, NM State
All-Tournament Doubles
Airam Castellano/Mike Psarros, Missouri-Kansas City
Koby Jansen/Yehonatan Kaufman, UT Rio Grande Valley
Christofer Goncalves/Stijn de Haan, NM State
WOMEN
The 2016 Women's All-Tournament Tennis team has been announced, as voted on by the participating coaches.
All-Tournament Singles
Reegan Greenwood, UT Rio Grande Valley
Tara Donaho, UT Rio Grande Valley
Doris Aleksovska, UT Rio Grande Valley
Melinda Johnson, Missouri-Kansas City
Rimpledeep Kaur, NM State
Ashvarya Shrivastav, NM State
All-Tournament Doubles
Michelle Lui/Kelli Woodman, Seattle U
Ashvarya Shrivastav/Rimpledeep Kaur, NM State
Doris Aleksovska/Dominique Ibarra, UT Rio Grande Valley
3-WAY TIE FOR MEN'S REGULAR SEASON TITLE
Grand Canyon, NM State and Missouri-Kansas City tied for the WAC Regular Season Title with all teams going 4 and 1 in conference play.
NM STATE WOMEN OUTRIGHT CLINCH REGULAR SEASON TITLE
The Aggie women captured their first regular-season WAC title as Lindsay Harlas, a Las Cruces native clinched the match for NM State beating Seattle U 6-1. With the regular-season championship in sight, NM State reeled off five-straight wins in singles action to notch its eight-straight victory. The last time NM State won eight-straight matches dated back to the 2002 season when it won 13-straight. The Aggies only recorded eight-straight victories two other times in program history (1996, 2000).
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2016 WAC Tennis Championship took place in Brownsville, Texas from April 29th to May 1st. UT Rio Grande Valley hosted this year's Championship. The NM State men beat UMKC, 4-3 to win back to back titles while the UTRGV women defeated NM State to win it's first ever conference title.
2016 USTA/ITA REGIONALS
The USTA/ITA Regional Championships will feature some of the top men's and women's players across the country. Over 8,000 student-athletes from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, Junior and Community Colleges compete across 85 USTA/ITA Regional Championships around the country.
Region/Host
Midwest: Notre Dame
Mountain: New Mexico
Northeast: Yale
South: Alabama
Central: Arkansas
Southeast: Florida
Northwest: Washington
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - The 2016 Tennis National Championships will take place in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Tulsa will be the host May 19-30.
May 19-30
Location: Tulsa, Okla.
Host: Tulsa
Admission: Free