The Arizona men’s tennis team began its fall season with a bang this weekend as Pat Metham and Francois VanderMerwe took the doubles title at the Aggie Invitational in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Wildcat duo defeated New Mexico State’s Eduardo Salas and Roman Stoisavljevic, 8-6.

“”I’m proud of both their efforts today,”” said UA head coach Tad Berkowitz in a press release. “”They played solid over the entire tournament and deserved to win.””

The match was the first for VanderMerwe, a redshirt senior who sat last season out, since his return.

The South African native also won his singles match against Brian Joiner of Abeline Christian, 6-1, 6-4.

“”I thought it was good for Francois to be able to play a lot of matches this weekend,”” Berkowitz said.

Monterrey Tech’s Eduardo Campos beat UA sophomore David Humphreys and freshman John Harden withdrew from his match against Wilton Atkins of Western New Mexico.

Two Wildcats went with assistant coach Tom Lloyd to the Costa Mesa Futures Tournament, held in Costa Mesa, Calif., this weekend to compete. ASU transfer Andres Arango lost to Dominic Stokley in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6.