LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Texas A&M - Corpus Christi men's tennis team cruised to a 4-0 victory over New Mexico State today at the NMSU Tennis Center. The Islanders quickly picked up the doubles point before sweeping four singles matches to improve to 4-3 on the season.
"This was a good team win," Director of Tennis Steve Moore said. "We have a lot of respect for New Mexico State and this is always a tough road match for us. I thought the guys did a good job of controlling the things they can control, playing with a lot of spirit and grit.
"The goal is to play every point with intensity and while we didn't max out every point, I thought we did a good job overall. We have to stay hungry and humble and keep getting better because we have a lot to improve on to reach our goals."
The Islanders jumped out to a 1-0 start over the Aggies (0-1) after clinching two out of the three doubles matches over the Aggies. The pair of Peter Nagy and Guillaume Rauseo topped Marc Westgate and Paul Denele 6-1 on court one before New Mexico State's Strahinja Trecakov and Charles Baron defeated Pietro Jordao and Javier Pujol 6-3 in No. 3 doubles. Much like the UC Irvine match last Sunday, the doubles point came down to the senior-freshman duo of Matt Westmoreland and Paul Cook. The dynamic duo edged Liam Goldberg and Germain Degardin in 6-5 (2) in the No. 2 spot to record the Islanders' first point of the day.
A&M - Corpus Christi carried over their momentum into singles play to win three straight. Pujol took care of business in the No. 4 spot with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Degardin to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead. Rauseo, the Southland Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week, followed suit with a 6-2 first-set victory before squeezing out a 6-5 (3) victory in the second set over Goldberg in the No. 3 slot. The Islanders clinched the win after Nagy garnered a 6-5 (2), 6-4 victory over Westgate in the No.1 position.
Ricardo Mayagoitia split the first two sets in the No. 2 position against Denele and was down 1-0 in the third when the match was clinched. Westmoreland and Trecakov also split the first two sets on court five. Westmoreland was ahead 3-0 in the third when Nagy clinched the match. Freshman Philip Kuehnen won the first set 6-5 (3) over Patrick Pfister in the No. 6 position and was leading the second set 5-2.
The men's team will continue play in Las Cruces on Friday when they take on Utah State at 2 p.m. CST.
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Tennis Match Results
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi vs. New Mexico State
1/23/2014 at Las Cruces, N.M.
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 4, New Mexico State 0
Singles competition:
1. Peter Nagy (AMCC) def. Marc Westgate (NMSU) 6-5 (7-2), 6-4
2. Paul Denele (NMSU) vs. Ricardo Mayagoitia (AMCC) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0, unfinished
3. Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Liam Goldberg (NMSU) 6-2, 6-5 (7-3)
4. Javier Pujol (AMCC) def. Germain Degardin (NMSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Strahinja Trecakov (NMSU) vs. Matt Westmoreland (AMCC) 1-6, 6-3, 0-3, unfinished
6. Patrick Pfister (NMSU) vs. Philip Kuehnen (AMCC) 5-6 (3-7), 2-5, unfinished
Doubles competition:
1. Peter Nagy/Guillaume Rauseo (AMCC) def. Marc Westgate/Paul Denele (NMSU) 6-1
2. Matt Westmoreland/Paul Cook (AMCC) def. Liam Goldberg/Germain Degardin (NMSU) 6-5 (7-2)
3. Strahinja Trecakov/Charles Baron (NMSU) def. Javier Pujol/Pietro Jordao (AMCC) 6-3
Match Notes:
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 4-3
New Mexico State 0-1
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,3,1)
