April 5, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State junior Markus Dickhardt has been named the Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week, the league office announced Wednesday. The honor is the second of his career and comes on the strength of a 6-0 combined record in doubles and singles last week.
In doubles action, Dickhardt joined forces with Benedikt Stronk at the No. 1 position, sweeping all three of their scheduled matches. On March 31, the Aztec duo posted an 8-5 triumph over the Utah pairing of Nick Coutts and Zach Ganger, who had entered the contest with a No. 26 national ranking. The following day on April 1, Dickhardt and Stronk recorded their second straight upset, knocking off Air Force's 52nd-ranked team of Shannon Buck and Trevor Johnson, 8-7 (7-0). The SDSU tandem then capped off their weekend on April 2 with an 8-3 win over UNLV's Joel Kielbowicz and David Campbell.
Dickhardt also forged a perfect 3-0 mark in singles competition, cruising to straight-set victories over Chris Clayton of Harvard (6-4, 6-3), Utah's Tomasz Grzyb (6-4, 6-3) and Romain Massero of UNLV (6-4, 6-0). With his three-match winning streak, the Marburg, Germany, native improved his record to 17-6 on the year, helping the scarlet and black to a 3-0 start in MWC play.
Dickhardt and the 56th-ranked Aztecs return to the courts this weekend for a pair of non-conference dual matches at Aztec Tennis Center. SDSU tangles with No.2 Pepperdine on Saturday, April 8, beginning at 2 p.m., while UC Santa Barbara pays a visit on Sunday, April 9, starting at 1 p.m.