“We were a little disappointed that we didn’t get the No. 2 seed in the tournament, but I told the girls that I would have much rather played today and get one under our belt,” head coach Ivan Fernandez said. “I’m very proud of how we played today with great intensity. Taking the doubles point at the start gave great momentum going into the singles matches. Dominating on most of the courts today really gives us some confidence going into the semifinals tomorrow morning.”
NM State will now face Texas-Pan American in the semifinal round on Saturday. The Broncs had a first-round bye after receiving the No. 2 seed. The match was originally scheduled for a 9 a.m. (MDT) start on Saturday, but expected high winds have moved the match to an 8 a.m. start.
The day started with the Aggies taking two of three doubles’ matches to corral their first point of the tournament.
The only loss for NM State during doubles play was at No.3, where juniors Susana Alcaraz and Denise Van Der Ben lost 8-4 to Anna Lambert and Corrine Wurden.
In singles play, the Aggies only lost six total points in three matches to sweep Seattle, picking up wins at the one, two and six spots.
Shrivastava led the charge playing at the No. 1 spot for only the third time this spring. The Aggie sophomore took little time to dispose of Lambert 6-1, 6-0. Shrivastava improves to 14-4 in spring play and has now won 12 of her last 14 singles matches.
The other two singles’ points came from Alcaraz at the two position and Collens at the six spot. Alcaraz defeated Woodman 6-2, 6-1, while Collens won 6-1, 6-1 over Wurden.
Alcaraz has her best record at No. 2, where she is now 6-1. She heads to semifinal play a winner of five-straight singles’ matches while Collens has now won three-straight singles’ matches.
Singles:
NM State Seattle U
#1 Ashvarya Shrivastava vs Anna Lambert – 6-1, 6-0 (NM State)
#2 Susana Alcaraz vs Kelli Woodman – 6-2, 6-1 (NM State)
#3 Denise Van Der Ben vs Barbara Ann Carey - DNF
#4 Annemieke Witte vs Gabriella Weissman- DNF
#5 Ros-Polly Nguyen vs Sarah Lucas- DNF
#6 Brittany Collens vs Corinne Wurden – 6-1, 6-1 (NM State)
Doubles:
NM State Seattle U
#1 Brittany Collens/Ros-Polly Nguyen vs Sarah Lucas/Gabriella Weissman – 8-3 (NM State)
#2 Annemieke Witte/Ashvarya Shrivastava vs Kelli Woodman/Kristen James – 8-3 (NM State)
#3 Susana Alcaraz/Denise Van Der Ben vs Anna Lambert/Corinne Wurden – 8-4 (Seattle U)