SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Western New Mexico University men's tennis team is once again advancing to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division II Tournament after defeating the St. Cloud State Huskies, 5-0, Monday afternoon in Regional Tournament action of the NCAA Tournament.


WNMU backed up their No. 1 seed in the Central Region with a dominating performance. The Mustangs swept doubles, but it wasn't easy. At the top flight, Johan Weich (Landskrona, Sweden/Filbornaskolan High School) and Juan Pablo Fuentes (Guadalajara, Mexico/) pulled away from a tight match to take a 8-6 victory, after St. Cloud State came back to make it tight. At No. 2, Rodrigo Almeida (Arapongas, Brazil/Nene Lourenco High School)/Jean Benoit Belin (Nimes, France/Emmanuel d'Alzon High School) dropped just one point in an 8-1 victory. At No.3, it went back-and-forth with Omar Lopez (Naucalpan, Mexico/)/Roy Ulibarri (Dexter, NM/Dexter High School) holding serve with the teams going into the tiebreaker at eight all. WNMU then ran away with it, taking the breaker 7-1 giving WNMU a 3-0 lead through doubles play.


In singles, Almeida ripped through his top flight match, cruising to a 6-0 and 6-1 victory, which left the Mustangs just one-point away from the win. At No. 6, Alvaro Nunez (Madrid, Spain/) concluded the victory with a 6-0, 6-3 win. Weich at three was close with a 6-2, 5-2 lead and Belin at No. 5 was ahead 7-5, 4-1. Matthieu Covizzi (Noailly, France/) led 7-5, 1-0 at No. 4 and Fuentes, who had to wait for everyone to finish before beginning, was out to an early 4-1 lead in his match at No. 2.


With the win, the Mustangs will travel to Louisville, Ken., for the NCAA Championships that will begin on Wednesday, May 16. WNMU will face either Lynn or Barry out of the South Region in their first matchup.