PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Western New Mexico tennis teams spent the past week in Phoenix competing against several schools from around the country, with everything coming to a close on Saturday.


The first matches pitted the Mustangs against Hawaii-Hilo. On the women's side, WNMU stayed close but fell, 6-3. Ganna Tiurina (Kiev, Ukraine/M.M. Gromov #227) won at No. 1 singles, 7-6, 6-4 over Viriyapunt. At No. 2, Nikolina Vukadin (Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina/Sredwjoskolski Centar Pale) defeated Laussen, 7-5, 1-6, 10-4. At the No. 3 match, Ashley Newell (Las Vegas, NV/Silverado) rolled past Shin, 6-2, 7-6. The Mustangs dropped the other three singles matches, with Doris Berberic (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley High School) falling to Hamlin, 0-6, 1-6, At No. 5, Dena Irvin (Farmington, NM/Farmington High School) lost to Kahakui, 3-6, 6-3 and at No. 6 Sato defeated Davida Aragon (Arenas Valley, NM/Cobre High School), 6-1, 6-7, 10-4. In doubles competition, Hawaii-Hilo took all three matches. At No. 1, Viriyapunt/Laussen defeated Vuakdin/Tiurina, 8-5. Hamlin/Shin bested Newell/Berberic at No. 2, 8-5 and at No. 3, Sato/Kahakui defeated Irvin/Aragon, 8-3. In the men's matches against Hawaii-Hilo, the Mustangs came right down to the end before falling, 5-4. In the doubles, Johan Weich (Landskrona, Sweden/Filbornaskolan High School)/Juan Pablo Fuentes (Guadalajara, Mexico/) defeated Coffey/Nizutani, 8-6, at No. 1. Rodrigo Almeida (Arapongas, Brazil/Nene Lourenco High School)/Matthieu Covizzi (Noailly, France/) came close against Quijano/Nizuguchi, but fell in a tiebreaker, 9-8, losing in the tiebreaker, 7-3. At No. 3, Jean Benoit Belin (Nimes, France/Emmanuel d'Alzon High School)/Roy Ulibarri (Dexter, NM/Dexter High School) lost to Dols/Gillespie, 8-3. In singles, Hawaii-Hilo took No. 1 through No. 3 with Quijano beating Welch at No. 1, 6-4, 6-4. Coffey over Fuentes at No. 2, 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 and Nizutani over Covizzi, 7-6, 6-7, 10-6, at No. 3. WNMU came back to take the final three, with Almeida defating Nizuguchi at No. 4, 4-6, 6-1, 10-5. Belin over Gillespie, 1-6, 6-2, 10-6 at No. 5 and Alvaro Nunez (Madrid, Spain/) over Tavarez, 6-4, 6-3.


In the second round of matchups, the women faced BYU-Hawaii, while the men played Grand Canyon. On the women's side, BYU-Hawaii took the matchup, 9-0. In doubles, they won, 8-1, 8-2 and 8-1. In singles matchups, Tiurina took three games in both sets, but fell, 6-3, 6-3 against Kobayashi. Vukadin won four games in her first set, but lost to Tuionrizia at No. 2, 6-4, 6-1. BYU-Hawaii then took No. 3 through No. 6, 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-0. On the men's side, WNMU fought hard but fell the Grand Canyon, 6-3. Grand Canyon took all of the doubles matches, winning No. 1, 8-2 and No. 3, 8-4. At No. 2 it was a close match throughout with it coming down to the wire. Almeida/Belin stayed with Giraldi/Kazianschuetz, forcing the match into a tiebreaker before falling 7-3 in the tiebreaker to drop the set, 9-8. In singles competition, WNMU won No. 3 through No. 5, with Covizzi winning his match at No. 3, 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 over Kazianschuetz. At No. 4, Almeida bested Saleem, 6-1, 3-6, 10-3. At No. 5, Belin also had to go three sets before besting Spizman, 3-6, 6-1, 10-4. GCU took No. 1, 6-4, 7-5 over Weich. No. 2, 6-2, 6-1 against Fuentes and No. 6, 6-3, 7-5 over Nunez.


In the third round of matchups, the women took three from Chaminade before falling, 6-3, while the men defeated Scottsdale CC, 9-0. On the women's side, Chaminade took two of the three doubles matches. They took No. 1, 8-3 and No. 2, although it was a close fight with Newell/Berberic taking it down to the end before falling, 9-7. WNMU rolled to victory at No. 3 with Irvin/Aragon taking an 8-0 win. In singles matches, Chaminade took No. 1 and No. 2, with Tiurina taking seven games from Arnandova at No. 1 before falling, 6-3, 6-4. They then took No. 2, 6-0, 6-0. WNMU took No. 3 behin Newell as after she won a first set tiebreak, 7-6, she took the second set, 6-3 against Matsumoto. Chaminade took No. 4, 6-2, 6-4 and No. 5, 6-7, 6-2, 10-7, as Irvin gave Barba all that she could as for and more in the match. WNMU took No. 6 behind Aragon, 6-1, 6-0 over Hosaka. On the men's side, WNMU only played a couple of matches due to forfeits. In doubles, Weich/Fuentes defeated Moyer/Pollack, 8-4. The Mustangs then took the final two matches due to forfeits. In singles, Weich bested Moyer, 6-4, 6-1 and Fuentes defeated Pollack, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2. The other four matches were then won due to forfeit.


In the final matches of the tournament, the women faced the Academy of Arts, falling in a tight 5-4 match. On the men's side, they defeated Sonoma State, 5-4. On the women's side, WNMU took one of the doubles matches with Berberic/Newell defeating Kurczbuch/Johansson, 8-6. Academy of Arts came back to take the other two matches, taking No. 1, 8-2 and No. 3, 8-3. In singles competition, Tiurina defeated Phukchampa, 6-4, 6-1. WNMU also took No. 3 behind Newell, 6-4, 7-5 and No. 6 with Aragon winning, 6-2, 6-1. Academy of Arts won the other three, taking No. 2, 6-1, 7-5. No. 4, 6-1, 6-1 and No. 5, 6-2, 6-3. On the men's side, WNMU took the opening doubles match with Weich/Fuentes winning at No. 1 over Henke/Roberts, 8-5. SSU took No. 2, barely, 8-6 over Almeida/Belin and then captured No. 3, 8-3. In singles matches, Weich hung tough, as he took the first set, but then dropped the next two against Roberts to fall in three, 6-2, 3-6, 1-6 at the top flight. Fuentes cruised at No. 2 over Dy, 6-4, 6-0. After SSU took No. 3 over Covizzi, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, the Mustangs dominated the final three to claim the victory. Almeida downed Henke, 6-1, 6-3. Belin bested Manning, 6-2, 6-2 and Ulibarri came away with the winning match, as he took the first set, 7-5, then after dropping the second set, 1-6, he rebounded to pull out a 6-4 win in the third set at No. 6 over Eckstedt.


After all was said and done, the women are now 0-5 on the season, while the men are 4-3. The women will return to action Feb. 25 when they will play at the University of New Mexico. The men will have an even longer break before matching up against the New Mexico Military Institute which will be the first home matches for the Mustangs on Mar. 2.