March 21, 2002
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This Week
The San Diego State men's tennis team, fresh off an appearance in the semifinal round of the prestigious Blue/Gray Collegiate Classic in Montgomery, Ala., opens a two-match homestand on Thursday against Yale and concludes on Saturday against Princeton. The 25th-ranked Aztecs, which have won four of their last five matches, play the 71st-ranked Bulldogs at 2 p.m. on Thursday. Saturday's match against the Tigers which has been moved to Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., is scheduled for noon. After the two home matches, San Diego State will play at home just once in its next seven outings.
Back In The Top 25
For the first time since the 2001 preseason poll, SDSU has jumped into the nation's top 25. The Aztecs jumped 15 spots in the most recent Omni Hotels Collegiate Tennis Rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on Wednesday. The No. 25 ranking is the highest for the Aztec men since a No. 19 rating prior to the 2001 dual season. The Aztecs also sport the 21st-ranked singles player in sophomore Oliver Maiberger, and Maiberger teams with Ryan Redondo to form the nation's third-ranked doubles team.
Quick Volleys
* The Aztecs are 7-6 after 13 matches this season, last year SDSU was 5-8 at this point during the season.
* Ryan Redondo has won six straight singles matches and owns an 8-1 record during the dual season.
* Felix Hardt and Redondo are tied for the team lead in singles victories during the dual campaign with eight.
* The three primary doubles teams that coach John Nelson has used during the past month all sport winning records.
* Oliver Maiberger and Redondo, the nation's third-ranked doubles team, is 7-4 in the dual campaign while Felix Hardt and Valentino Pest (number two doubles) and Travis Hasson and Gabe Coren (number three doubles) are 4-1 and 4-3, respectively.
* Twelve of the Aztecs 13 opponents have been nationally ranked at match time this season. * The ranked opponent trend will continue this week as both Yale and Princeton are in this week's ITA poll.
Redondo Honored
Sophomore Ryan Redondo was named the Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week for the period ending March 19. It is the fourth time an Aztec player has won the award this season and the first of Redondo's career. A native of Carlsbad, Calif., Redondo helped the Aztecs post a 2-1 record last week in advancing to the semifinals of the Blue/Gray Collegiate Classic in Montgomery, Ala. The Aztecs upset 25th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth and 31st-ranked South Alabama before falling to eighth-ranked Illinois in the semifinal round. Redondo went 2-0 in singles action, posting straight-set victories over Mats Norin of 25th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth, 6-3, 7-5 and 71st-ranked Michael Calikins of Illinois, 6-1, 7-5. The victory against VCU in the round of 16 proved to be the difference as the Aztecs defeated the Rams by a 4-3 margin. In doubles action, Redondo teamed with Oliver Maiberger to post a 2-0 record, including a victory over the seventh-ranked duo in the country. Redondo and Maiberger, ranked third nationally, posted an 8-1 victory in number one doubles against South Alabama and followed that up with an 8-6 win over seventh-ranked Michael Calkins and Amer Delic of Illinois. As previously noted, the Aztecs have won the conference player of the week award four times this season. Junior Oliver Maiberger was the recipient on Jan. 30 and Feb. 13, while Felix Hardt claimed the honor on Feb. 6.
Quality Losses
SDSU sports a 7-6 record, but as the No. 25 national ranking would indicate, records can be misleading. All six of the Aztecs losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top 13 nationally. SDSU has losses to top-ranked UCLA, second-ranked Illinois, sixth-ranked Stanford (twice), 11th-ranked Pepperdine, and 13th-ranked Tennessee. The Aztecs are 5-0 against teams ranked, but outside the top 13, and 2-0 against unranked competition.