Tennis Wraps up Regular Season Against Nationally-Ranked Hawaii Pacific

PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Western New Mexico University tennis teams closed out the regular season Monday against nationally-ranked Hawaii Pacific with both teams falling short as the women were defeated 9-0 and the men 8-1. The Mustangs will now prepare for the Lone Star Conference Championships this Friday and Saturday.

On the women's side, Hawaii Pacific entered ranked fifth in the nation and had to fight off a tough challenge by the Lady Mustangs in doubles action. WNMU nearly won both No. 1 and No. 3, with seniors Gemma Goodland (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia/Maribyrnong College Sports Academy)/Annely Hezine at the top flight almost pushing their match to a tiebreaker before a 7-9 setback against the No. 9 ranked doubles duo. At No. 3, freshmen Emma Siboni (Boulogne-Billancourt, France/Lycée La Fontaine)/Nadia Justiniano (Santa Cruz, Bolivia/Santa Cruz International School) nearly had the same score before a close 6-8 loss. Redshirt junior Tiffany Newell (Las Vegas, NV/Silverado )/junior Jeanne Kolb (La Couroone, France/Lycée de l'Image et du Son ) grabbed two games at No. 2 before a 2-8 loss.

In singles, the Sharks had three players ranked in the top-48 including the No. 4 player in Nicole Hoynaski at No. 1. Goodland at No. 3 and Kolb at No. 4 came the closest as each won seven games before falling by the same scores of 4-6, 3-6. Goodland faced the No. 48 ranked player in Oceane Adam. Justiniano recorded four games at No. 5 before a 2-6, 2-6 loss, while freshman Karina Diaz (Laredo, TX/United) had a similar result at No. 6 falling 1-6, 2-6. Heinze went against the No. 19 ranked player in Lara Meccico at No. 2 falling, 1-6, 0-6, while Newell went against No. 4 ranked Hoynaski and was defeated, 0-6, 0-6.

The Lady Mustangs, 3-18 on the season, will enter the LSC Championships as the sixth seed and will go against Tarleton State in the first round Friday at 10 a.m. Central Time. If WNMU were to win their match they would then face Cameron at 6 p.m. later that evening.

On the men's side, No. 26 WNMU fell 8-1, but came close in many of the matches. Facing the No. 6 ranked team in the nation, the Mustangs won at No. 3 doubles and had three singles matches go three sets. In doubles, sophomores Blayze O'Keefe (Las Vegas, NV/Odyssey Charter)/Zachary Grabovic (South Bank, Australia/St. Kevin's College) pulled out the tight win at No. 3 in a tiebreaker, 9-8. It was a top-10 battle at No. 1 with No. 3 ranked redshirt junior Tristan Da Lio (Casablanca/Academie des Hauts de Nimes)/junior Vladimir Gnilozubov (Kazakhstan, Astana/Kazakhstan) going against the No. 9 ranked team of Filip Dolezel/Jakub Hadrava and the Sharks came away with the 8-5 win. In the other doubles match at No. 2 with senior Jean-Laurent Pageault (Perrigny, France/Academi des Hauts de Nimes)/sophomore Liam Fraboulet (Lycée Kerraoul, Paimpol, France/Lycée Kerraoul), they won four games before a 4-8 setback.

In singles, Gnilozubov, Da Lio and O'Keefe all went three sets. Da Lio at No. 4 and O'Keefe at No. 6 each went to a tiebreaker in their final sets. Da Lio lost the first set, 3-6, but came back to claim the second, 7-5, before losing in the third, 6-7. O'Keefe did the reverse as he rolled to a 6-0 win in the first set, before falling in the next two sets, 3-6, 6-7. Gnilozubov at No. 3 dropped his first set, 4-6, then came back to win the second by that same score of 6-4, before a long super tiebreaker fell just short, 8-10. Pageault at No. 2 faced No. 10 Torben Otto and won six games before a 2-6, 4-6 setback, while Fraboulet battled the No. 7 ranked player in Dolezel at the top flight and won six games just like Pageault before a 4-6, 2-6 loss.

WNMU, now 13-8 on the season, will enter the LSC Championships as the second seed and will face No. 21 Midwestern State again in less than a week this Friday at 2 p.m. If the Mustangs win, they would play the Cameron/UT Permian Basin winner on Saturday.

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Players Mentioned

Gemma Goodland: 5' 8"; Senior

Tiffany Newell: 5' 6"; Redshirt Junior

Jeanne Kolb: 5' 1"; Junior

Karina Diaz: 5' 2"; Freshman

Emma Siboni: 5' 2"; Freshman

Tristan Da Lio: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior

Liam Fraboulet: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Vladimir Gnilozubov: 5' 8"; Junior

Blayze O'Keefe: 6' 0"; Sophomore

Jean-Laurent Pageault: 5' 11"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Gemma Goodland
: 5' 8"; Senior

Tiffany Newell
: 5' 6"; Redshirt Junior

Jeanne Kolb
: 5' 1"; Junior

Karina Diaz
: 5' 2"; Freshman

Emma Siboni
: 5' 2"; Freshman

Tristan Da Lio
: 5' 11"; Redshirt Junior

Liam Fraboulet
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Vladimir Gnilozubov
: 5' 8"; Junior

Blayze O'Keefe
: 6' 0"; Sophomore

Jean-Laurent Pageault
: 5' 11"; Senior