Oct. 16, 2008
MALIBU, Calif. - The San Diego State men's tennis team had an impressive first day at the ITA West-South Regional Championships on Thursday. The Aztecs posted four singles wins against one loss and recorded victories in three of their four doubles matches at Pepperdine's Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif.
Juan Gomez, who made it through pre-qualifying singles and into the qualifying draw at the D'Novo/ITA All-American tournament earlier this month, continued his solid play by cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Cal Poly's Robert Zacks in the Round of 128.
Matthew Tosches also experienced little resistance in his match against Michael Conroy of UC Riverside as he dispatched his opponent, 6-1, 6-4, while teammate Tim Schulz van Endert won his match vs. USC's Daniel Gliner in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6.
Andre Feliz battled back from a rough start after falling in the first set, 6-4, to Arizona's Jason Zafiros. The San Gabriel, Calif., native, however, rebounded nicely and returned the favor by winning the next two sets, 6-2, 7-6, to move on in the bracket.
Jordan Colman was the lone Aztec to lose in singles play, but did not go down easily as he fell in three sets to Borja Malet of Loyola Marymount. Colman found himself in a hole after losing 6-3 in the first set, but bounced back and breezed to a 6-1 decision in the second to tie the match at 1-1. In the third, Malet was able to break Colman's serve and went on to a 7-5 victory to eliminate Colman from the main draw.
In the doubles round of 64, the SDSU tandem of Andre Feliz-Luis Rattenhuber downed UC Santa Barbara's Josh Finkelstein-Alex Konigsfeldt, 8-4, to advance to the round of 32 where three other Aztec teams were competing thanks to first-round byes.
In the next round, seventh-seeded Bartosz Golas-Juan Gomez avoided a scare by defeating Rob Foy-Alexander Sonesson of Cal Poly, 9-8. The SDSU duo found themselves ahead 6-4 before the Mustang pair battled back to put a scare into the Aztecs. Fortunately for San Diego State's top tandem, they were able to hold on for the victory.
In other doubles round of 32 action, Schulz van Endert-Tosches emerged with a 9-7 decision over Andy Gerst-Brian McPhee of Cal Poly, while Feliz-Rattenhuber fell to Pepperdine's Daniel Moss-Jenson Turner, 8-4.
Second-day action continues Friday at 9 a.m. PT beginning with doubles.
ITA West-South Regional Championships
Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center (Malibu, Calif.)
Singles-Round of 128
Matthew Tosches (SDSU) def. Michael Conroy (UCR), 6-1, 6-4
Tim Schulz van Endert (SDSU) def. Daniel Gliner (USC), 6-3, 7-6
Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. Robert Zacks (Cal Poly), 6-1, 6-1
Andre Feliz (SDSU) def. Jason Zafiros (Arizona), 4-6, 6-2, 7-6
Borja Malet (LMU) def. Jordan Colman (SDSU), 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
Doubles-Round of 64
Andre Feliz-Luis Rattenhuber (SDSU) def. Josh Finkelstein-Alex Konigsfeldt (UCSB), 8-4
Doubles-Round of 32
(7)Bartosz Golas-Juan Gomez (SDSU) def. Rob Foy-Alexander Sonesson (Cal Poly), 9-8
Tim Schulz van Endert-Matthew Tosches (SDSU) def. Andy Gerst-Brian McPhee (Cal Poly), 9-7
Daniel Moss-Jenson Turner (Pepperdine) def. Andre Feliz-Luis Rattenhuber (SDSU), 8-4