May 24, 2003
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State senior Oliver Maiberger and junior Ryan Redondo rallied from a one-set deficit to defeat Benedikt Dorech and Reiner Neurohr of Baylor, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Doubles Championship in Athens, Ga., on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, the Aztec duo, seeded second in the championship, advances to Sunday's semifinal round against fourth-seeded Scott Lipsky and David Martin of Stanford. The other semifinal match will feature top-seeded Richard Barker and William Barker of Rice against Rajeev Ram and Brian Wilson of Illinois.
"The start was a little shaky but as the match went on we got better and better," Maiberger said. "We had to really fight out way through today. We came up with some big shots at crucial moments. It was a very close one and I'm glad we won it."
"It felt good to get through that," Redondo said. "We didn't start off that great, but long matches like this you have to get through and we did it and can move on to our match tomorrow. We're taking it one at a time."
Maiberger and Redondo faced Lipsky and Martin earlier this season in a dual match. Although the Cardinal won the team match, the Aztec duo claimed an 8-4 victory on Feb. 17.
"We've seen them a couple times this year," Maiberger said. "We kind of know what to expect, although we've never played them in best two out of three sets. So we'll see what happens tomorrow."
Maiberger and Redondo are going for their second career grand slam title. The pair won the 2001 Omni Hotels National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in Farmers Branch, Texas, to claim the first grand slam title in school history.
Both the singles and doubles championships continue through Monday.