Men’s and Women’s Tennis Finish Season at RMAC Championships

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Montana State Billings tennis season came to an end this weekend at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships in Albuquerque as the women were bounced in the first round and the men made a second round exit.

In Friday’s first quarterfinal match, the number four seeded Yellowjackets fell to fifth seeded Metro State, 6-3. The Yellowjackets fell behind 2-1 early as Rikki Peach and Kim Karlsson were the only doubles team to record a win, defeating Yerica Pessoa and April Hirad, 8-6.

MSUB received the other two points when Ana Juarez defeated Pessoa at number one singles, (6-3, 6-0) and Peach beat Nicole Herrmann in straight-sets at number three (6-3, 6-3).

The men’s team, which was also seeded fourth, defeated Metro State in the first round 6-3. The Yellowjackets got wins from the number two and three doubles to stake a 2-1 lead early. Delbert Landicho and Josh Schouman defteated Ryan Campbell and Ryan Joyce, 8-4, while Franco Valdez and Luis Olivera defeated Mark Damian and Mattia Ferrari, 8-1.

In singles play, Navin Marimuthu defeated Georgie Perez in straight-sets at the number one spot, (6-2, 6-1), and Valdez put the Jackets up 4-1 with a win over Ross Gelina (6-2, 6-1) in the two position. The Jackets put the match away with wins by Landicho (6-0, 6-2) and Geoff Fehr (6-3, 6-0) in the fifth and sixth positions.

The Yellowjackets then moved on to play the number one seed, Western New Mexico, in the semifinals. MSUB fell behind 3-0 after the doubles matches and were unable to find their rhythm in singles play, dropping matches in the third, fourth, and fifth spots. Those matches sealed the victory for WNMU as the first, second, and sixth matches were not finished.