LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Jason Zafiros, Alex Johnson, and Geoff Embry competed this past weekend at the Aggie Fall Invitational, hosted by New Mexico State. Zafiros took home a third place title, while Johnson and Embry both performed well.
"Our goal for this tournament was to play as much tennis as we can and play as many matches as we can," said head coach Tad Berkowitz. "It was great for the guys to get out and compete.”
On day one of the invite, all three players won at least one match. Freshman Alex Johnson defeated Kyle Lynch of Western New Mexico, 6-2; 6-2. Johnson later was defeated by Eduardo Salas of New Mexico State, 7-6; 6-4.
Zafiros and Embry won both of their doubles matches the first coming against David Flodberg/Andres Perez of NAU, 8-0, and later against Craig Duran/Scott Keaton of NMSU, 8-3. In their singles matches, Zafiros defeated Patrick Schimmelbauer of NAU, 6-2; 6-3, while Geoff Embry defeated NMSU’s Armando Morales 6-0; 6-1.
The Cats had a tougher second day however. Zafiros won his first match, defeating Gustave Diep, NMSU, 6-2; 7-5, but was defeated by Jim Brouleau of NMSU, 7-6; 2-6; 6-3, in the Men’s Singles Crimson quarterfinal round. Johnson also won his first match as a Wildcat, defeating Patrick Schimmelbauer of NAU, 6-1; 6-4, and later lost to NAU’s David Flodberg 6-4; 6-4.
Zafiros and Embry were defeated in the doubles semifinal round by Diep and Salas of NMSU, 8-2.
On the final day of the invite, both Johnson and Zafiros won their singles matches. Johnson topped Eldad Campbell, ACU, 6-3; 6-1, while Zafiros defeated Western New Mexico’s Yair Banuelos 6-4, 6-0. Embry was downed by Diep of NMSU, 6-2; 2-0 Ret (inj).
