SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Western New Mexico University tennis teams were finally able to play home matches on their new courts Saturday. The opponent was a pair of ranked teams in Cameron University and the Mustangs fell in both matches with the women dropping an 8-1 decision, while the men came down to the wire before falling, 5-4.


On the men's side, Western New Mexico University (WNMU) started things off strong against No. 20 Cameron University by taking all three doubles matches. In the top flight position, Rodrigo Almeida (Arapongas, Brazil/Nene Lourenco High School) and Juan Pablo Fuentes (Guadalajara, Mexico/) came out with a solid 8-5 victory. Alvaro Nunez (Madrid, Spain/) and Francisco Damasio (Jundiai, Brazil/Centro Educational Sigma ) followed suit at No. 2, as they also claimed an 8-5 win. Jorge Carretero (Asturias, Spain/) and Matthieu Covizzi (Noailly, France/) fought back and held off a late run to make it a clean sweep at No. 3 with a 9-8 victory. In singles, WNMU looked to be in good shape following a 6-0, 6-4 win in straight sets for Fuentes at No. 3. Cameron would fight back, as Almeida fell at No. 1, 6-3, 6-0. Covizzi dropped a 6-1, 6-0 decision at No. 2 leaving WNMU ahead 4-2. Nunez took seven games at No. 4 but came up short falling 6-4, 6-3. Damasio jumped out to a 6-4 first set win at No. 5 and after dropping the second set, 6-2, he lost in the third set, 6-1, tying the match at four. In the final singles match, Roy Ulibarri (Dexter, NM/Dexter High School) jumped out with a tiebreaking 7-6 first set win, but then dropped a very close second set, 7-5. In the third set, the two were tied at 3-3, but Cameron's Joao Fazendeiro won the next three games to take a 6-3 third set and match victory for Cameron.


On the women's side, No. 12 Cameron had too much in the doubles taking all three. At the top position, Ganna Tiurina (Kiev, Ukraine/M.M. Gromov #227) and Ashley Newell (Las Vegas, NV/Silverado) dropped an 8-3 decision. Same for Doris Berberic (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley High School) and Diamond Morrill (Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad) at No. 3, as they were defeated 8-3. At No. 2, Claudia Osuna (Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico/Tec Milenio ) and Marie Monier (Saint Etienne, France/St Paul Forez Montbrison) came close, winning five games before an 8-5 setback. In singles, Tiurina continued her solid season as she won a three-set thriller. She took the opening set, 6-4 and after falling 7-5 in the second, she came back with a 10-8 win in the third set. Newell fell at No. 2, 6-0, 6-0. Osuna and Berberic both won three games in their matches, with Osuna falling, 6-3, 6-0 at No.3 and Berberic 6-0, 6-3 at No. 4. At No. 5, Morrill came back from a 6-3 loss in the opening set and pushed the second set as far as she could before dropping a tiebreaker, 7-6 (3). In the final singles match, Davida Aragon (Arenas Valley, NM/Cobre High School) fought back from a first set 6-2 loss, to take the second, 6-3. She dropped the third set, 10-2.


The men, ranked No. 35 in the nation, are now 6-10 this season. They will play Division I New Mexico State this Sunday at 11 a.m. and then they will face Texas-Permian Basin on Monday, also in Las Cruces. The women, now 5-11, will return to action on March 23 in Las Vegas, Nev., against Division I Seattle University.