Against UC Riverside, Westgate and Goldberg won their No. 1 doubles match 6-5. At the second doubles court, sophomore duo Paul Denele and Naveen Manivannan won 6-3 over their Highlander opponents.
“I saw some good play from the Aggie men’s tennis team today,” head coach Carlos Vargas said. “We won our first doubles point of the season and that set the pace for some hard-fought matches to follow. I saw great play today from (Strahinja) Trecakov, Degardin and (Charles) Baron and we were even up in the matches that were stopped.”
With the doubles point secure, NM State saw a win from sophomore Strahinja Trecakov, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, at court two. Degardin won in straight sets at court five, while newcomer Charles Barson claimed a two-set win at the No. 6 spot to help NM State to a 4-0 win.
Shortly after defeating the Highlanders, the Aggies took back to the courts to meet Southern Miss and came up with a 4-1 win.
“Even though it was 4-1, the score does not reflect the intensity of the matches. We lost the doubles point after leading,” Vargas said, “and that made the job a lot harder in singles.” The team’s hard work paid off to finish the long day with two wins, which was a nice comeback after yesterday’s loss. It was good to see how fit the team looked after six hours of tennis.”
Westgate and Goldberg won 6-4 at court one, but it was not enough to gather the doubles point. It came down to singles play where the middle four courts saw three win in straight sets.
Denele defeated Brad Marriott 6-3, 6-3 at the second singles court and Gildberg battled three sets to pick up the win (3-6, 6-4, 6-1) at court three. Degardin and junior Patrick Pfister claimed victories at the fourth and fifth courts, respectively, and both did so in two sets.
The Aggies conclude the weekend on Sunday, Feb. 2 against Weber State at 10 a.m. at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the UNLV campus.
New Mexico State 4, UC Riverside 0
February 1, 2014 at Las Vegas, NV
(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
Doubles
1. Westgate/Goldberg (NMSU) def. Bridge/Carella (UCR) 6-5
2. Denele/Manivannan (NMSU) def. Felich/Ngo (UCR) 6-3
3. Ruffin/Vizcarra (UCR) def. Trecakov/Baron (NMSU) 6-3
Singles
1. Westgate (NMSU) vs. Gastao (UCR) unfinished
2. Trecakov (NMSU) def. Felich (UCR) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
3. Denele (NMSU) vs. Ruffin (UCR) unfinished
4. Goldberg (NMSU) vs. Bridge (UCR) unfinished
5. Degardin (NMSU) def. Ngo (UCR) 6-1, 6-4
6. Baron (NMSU) def. Yun (UCR) 6-4, 6-5
Southern Miss vs New Mexico State
Feb. 1, 2014 at Las Vegas, NV
(Fertitta Tennis Complex)
New Mexico State 4, Southern Miss 1
Singles competition
1. Strahinja Trecakov (NMSU) vs. Paulo Alvarado (USM) unfinished
2. Paul Denele (NMSU) def. Brad Marriott (USM) 6-3, 6-3
3. Liam Goldberg (NMSU) def. Vasco Valverde (USM) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
4. Germain Degardin (NMSU) def. Alex Doleac (USM) 6-3, 6-1
5. Patrick Pfister (NMSU) def. Chao-Yu Huang (USM) 6-4, 6-4
6. Naveen Manivannan (NMSU) vs. Juan Escobar (USM) unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Marc Westgate/Liam Goldberg (NMSU) def. Alex Doleac/Brad Marriott (USM) 6-4
2. Vasco Valverde/Chao-Yu Huang (USM) def. Paul Denele/Naveen Manivannan (NMSU) 6-5
3. Juan Escobar/Paulo Alvarado (USM) def. Strahinja Trecakov/Charles Baron (NMSU) 6-5