Sept. 25, 2001
SAN DIEGO - Junior Oliver Maiberger, who earned All-America status last season after advancing to the third round of the NCAA singles championship, opens the season ranked 13th in the ITA preseason singles rankings. He is one of two singles players and three doubles teams from San Diego State to be ranked in the preseason ITA rankings.
Maiberger, the 2001 Mountain West Conference player of the year, posted a 29-6 record last season. He ended the 2001 season ranked 27th nationally, and was named the ITA region player to watch.
Also earning a spot in the preseason singles rankings is Valentino Pest. Last season, the junior became the first Aztec to win a match at the Rolex Indoor Championships and advanced to the quarterfinal round in the grand slam event.
Two Aztec men's doubles teams are ranked among the top 50 nationally to open the 2001-02 season. Maiberger teams with Ryan Redondo as the 46th ranked duo, while Pest joins Travis Hassen as the 49th ranked doubles team. San Diego State is one of 10 schools nationally to have multiple men's doubles teams ranked.
On the women's side, the doubles team of juniors Lindsey Hedberg and Silvia Tornier open the season as the number 29 doubles team. Hedberg and Tornier posted a 20-10 record while playing a majority of the season as the Aztecs top doubles team in 2000-01.
In the first event of the fall season for the Aztecs, San Diego State, along with cross-town rival San Diego, will co-host the World TeamTennis Championship at the Barnes Tennis Center Friday through Sunday. Sixteen of the nation's premiere men's and women's tennis programs will compete in a unique format in which the men's and women's programs play together. Matches are at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with the tournament concluding on Sunday with play beginning at 9 a.m. Admission to the tournament is free.