PUEBLO, Colo. – Another perfect regular season and tournament runs this year culminated with the Western New Mexico University men's tennis team raising the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament title for the sixth time in as many years after defeating MSU Denver, 5-2, Saturday.
The Mustangs have now gone an unprecedented 33-0 in regular season RMAC matches and 12-0 in RMAC Tournament matches the past six seasons in which WNMU has won both the regular season and tournament title each year.
MSU Denver entered as the third seed and upset second seed Colorado Mesa to face WNMU in the championship match. The Mustangs reached the title tilt after defeating Colorado State-Pueblo, 5-0, in the semifinals earlier in the day.
In the first match against the ThunderWolves, the Mustangs were able to control all three doubles matches to take the early lead.
Pablo Santibanez (Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico/CETYS Universidad)/
Jean-Laurent Pageault (Perrigny, France/Academi des Hauts de Nimes) grabbed an 8-3 win at No. 3.
Tristan Da Lio (Casablanca/Academie des Hauts de Nimes)/
Vladimir Gnilozubov (Kazakhstan, Astana/Kazakhstan) at the top flight added an 8-4 win.
Juan Pablo Fuentes (Guadalajara, Mexico)/
Alvaro Nunez (Madrid, Spain) were able to win their hard-fought match at No. 2, 8-6.
In singles, Santibanez cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 6, before Nunez clinched the match for the Mustangs at No. 4 with a 6-3, 6-0 victory.
In the championship match, WNMU nearly took all three doubles matches against the Roadrunners. Fuentes/Nunez dominated at No. 2 with an 8-1 win. Santibanez/Pageault added an 8-5 win at No. 3. Da Lio/Gnilozubov came close to winning their match at No. 1, going into extra time before falling in a close tiebreaker, 8-9 (8-10).
In singles, WNMU clinched the match winning No. 3 through No. 6. Santibanez continued his strong Saturday rolling to another dominating win at No. 6, 6-0, 6-3. Nunez at No. 4 and Gnilozubov at No. 5 won by the same scores of 6-3, 6-4 to secure the victory. Fuentes' match at No. 1 finished before the match had been decided as he fell, 1-6, 3-6.
The Mustangs, now 13-9 overall and winners of eight straight matches, will prepare for the South Central Regional earning the automatic bid by winning the RMAC that will take place May 2-5. WNMU was No. 2 in the last rankings and will likely face No. 3 St. Edward's out of the Heartland, as the Hilltoppers also won their conference tournament. The NCAA selection show will air on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
