Silver City, NM –  The Western New Mexico University Men's tennis team played against the Midwestern State (MSU) Mustangs at Mustang Courts Friday morning. In a long, hard-fought battle, nationally ranked Midwestern State took the win today, 6-1 against WNMU. 

In the doubles, MSU played tough against WNMU's teams and were able to take all three matches earning the doubles point. "We came out really great in the doubles, even though we had some great showings, Midwestern was able to take it from us," said Head Coach Alex Hunt. 

In singles, Midwestern State pulled off 5-1 win, although WNMU made the #41 team earn each of their points. Number One singles Jonathan Vega (Fort Worth, TX/North Crowley HS) played extremely well against a nationally ranked Midwestern State player. Vega took set number one (6-2), but unfortunately was defeated (5-7), and (4-10) in the final sets.

"Johnny pushed one of the top guys in the country to drop a set. The talented Midwestern player has been top 20 in the nation for the last three years, so it shows you the vast improvement Johnny has made and how exciting it is to watch him," said Coach Hunt. 

Joaquin Delpino (Villa Maria, Argentina) played well but unable to pull through the win in a tough loss, (3-6, 3-6 [2]). Number three singles was also well defended by Javier Romero (Estado de Mexico /Instituto Latino Canadiense, Interlaken, ETAC) but MSU came out on top, (2-6,3-6 [3]). Singles match Number Four, Yu Jhe Du (New Taipei City/Taiwan/Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School), had a tough loss against MSU, (0-6,0-6 [4]) as well as singles Match Number Six, Brendan Lock (Cheyenne, Wyoming) dropping the match (1-6, 2-6 [6]). 

The number five singles boded well for the Mustangs in a two-hour long match where Patricio Larrea (Ambato, Ecuador/Atenas high school ) came up with the win against MSU (3-6, 7-6, 10-1[5]). The second set had to come down to three tie-breaker points where Larrea showed grit. 

"Patricio stepped up and took care of business on the court. In fact, he won 17 out of the last 18 points of the match. That is so unheard of and played some clutch tennis," concluded Coach Hunt. 

The Mustangs will be back on their home court tomorrow, Saturday, March 26th against Dallas Baptist at 11:00 AM MT. 

This game recap is presented by First American Bank. First American Bank is a proud supporter of WNMU Athletics!  

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 Western New Mexico University is a member of the NCAA Division II, and the Lone Star Conference (LSC). For additional information regarding Mustang Athletics, visit www.wnmumustangs.com; visit wnmu.edu for more information about Western New Mexico University. Follow the Mustangs on social media: @WNMUathletics (Twitter & Instagram).