April 12, 2006
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State junior Christian Groh has been named the Mountain West Conference men's tennis player of the week, the league office announced Wednesday. The honor is the first of his career and the Aztecs' third this season. Fellow classmate Markus Dickhardt received the award April 5, while senior Benedikt Stronk garnered conference accolades Feb. 2.
Groh went 2-0 during singles play last weekend, which included an upset over No. 25 Pedro Rico of second-ranked Pepperdine, 6-4, 6-4, at the No. 2 position on Saturday. The Crailsheim, Germany, native returned the following day to snap the six-match winning streak of UC Santa Barbara's Nick Brotman, 6-2, 7-6, at the No. 1 spot. With the victories, Groh extended his own winning streak to nine matches and improved to his record to 20-4 on the season.
In doubles action, Groh teamed with Eugenio Romero at the No. 3 position to upend the UCSB pairing of Elad Stern and Max Taylor, 8-5, to clinch the doubles point for SDSU en route to a 6-1 triumph over the Gauchos.
Groh and the 59th-ranked Aztecs return to the courts this weekend when they travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, for a trio of MWC dual matches April 14-16. SDSU (11-7, 3-0 MWC) tangles with New Mexico on Friday, beginning at 9 a.m. MDT, before squaring off with Brigham Young at 1 p.m. MDT on Saturday. The Aztecs then wrap up the regular season on Sunday when they lock horns with 33rd-ranked TCU, slated for a 9 a.m. MDT start.