Nov. 8, 2001
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State sophomore Oliver Maiberger was upset in the first round of singles play at the Omni Hotels Intercollegiate Indoor Championships by Minnesota's Harsh Mankad, 7-5, 6-1, on Thursday at the Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Maiberger, the tournament's third-seeded singles player, was one of three seeded players to go down in the 32-player field. Fourth-seeded Tiago Ruffoni of Auburn and eighth-seeded Romain Ambert of Mississippi State also suffered straight-set first-round defeats.
Maiberger recovered from the upset and teamed with Ryan Redondo to claim first- and quarterfinal-round victories in doubles play. The Aztec pair disposed of Cody Conley and Joachim Lien of Louisville, 8-4, in the opening round. Then Maiberger and Redondo pulled an upset, defeating the third-seeded team of Andrew Colombo and Tiago Ruffoni of Auburn, 8-5, in the quarterfinal round.
The Aztec duo will face unseeded Marcus Hornung and Reiner Neurohr of Baylor in the semifinal round on Friday.
The Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championship, the second-leg of the college grand slam, will conclude with the doubles champion crowned on Saturday and the singles title awarded on Sunday. Last month, Maiberger advanced to the quarterfinal round of the ITA All-American Championship, the first leg of the grand slam, played in Stone Mountain, Ga.