Dons Fall to New Mexico State

Saturday, March 12

Albuquerque, NM

University of San Francisco

New Mexico State University

Photo by: Max Simpson

3/13/2016 9:55:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Albuquerque, N.M. –– The USF men's tennis team ended the Mountain-Pacific Invitational with a 4-3 loss to New Mexico State. With the loss, the Dons finished the tournament with a 1-2 record, picking up its lone win against rival Santa Clara.

In doubles action, the Aggies quickly took the first match at No. 2, with Liam Goldberg and Stijn de Haan beating Thomas Takemoto and Woravin Kumthonkittikul, 6-1. The Green and Gold battled back at No. 1, with Nils Skajaa and Vasco Valverde earning a 6-4 win over Strahinja Trecakov and Christofer Gonclaves to even the doubles point 1-1. However, New Mexico State put together a clutch performance at No. 3 to earn the point. Mauri Benitez and Nicholas Springer won the tiebreaker 7-5 over Christian Brockstedt and Jason Lee to push the Aggies ahead in the match.

In singles play, Benitez won back-to-back sets (6-4, 6-3) over Tynan Maguire to win the No. 5 match. The Dons came back at No. 3, as Valverde beat Goldberg 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 to pull USF within one point. Skajaa then evened things up with a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles to beat Trecakov. The Dons kept it rolling at No. 6, with Kumthonkittkul taking down Enrique Asmar 6-3, 7-6(5) to push USF ahead 3-2.

Despite the three straight singles wins, USF was unable to hold off the Aggies. New Mexico State rallied behind de Haan, who beat Takemoto at No. 3 by the score of 7-6(5), 6-3. With the match on the line, Gonclaves took down Ryan Marker at No. 2, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 and the Aggies came away with the 4-3 win.

USF will now return home to compete against George Washington on March 16 at the Olympic Club.

Doubles Competition
1. Skajaa/Valverde (USF) def. Trecakov/Gonclaves (NMSU) 6-4
2. Goldberg/de Haan (NMSU) def. Takemoto/Kumthonkitikul (USF) 6-1
3. Brockstedt/Lee (USF) def. Benitez/Springer (NMSU) 7-5
Order of Finish: 2,1,3

Singles Competition
1. Skajaa (USF) def. Trecakov (NMSU) 6-4, 7-5
2. Gonclaves (NMSU) def. Marker (USF) 6-1, 1-6, 7-5
3. Valverde (USF) def. Goldberg (NMSU) 6-3, 6-4
4. de Haan (NMSU) def. Takemoto (USF) 7-6(5), 6-3
5. Benitez (NMSU) def. Maguire (USF) 6-4, 6-3
6. Kumthonkittikul (USF) def. Asmar (NMSU) 6-3, 7-6(5)
Order of Finish: 5,3,1,6,4,2