April 16, 2011
SAN DIEGO - On a night when the San Diego State men's tennis team needed their biggest win of the season, they found a hero that delivered it. The Aztecs knocked off No. 29 San Diego late Friday night at the Aztec Tennis Center, 4-3, in a Senior Night performance that lasted nearly five hours.
SDSU (5-14; 2-3 Mountain West Conference) stormed the court in doubles play and received a quick victory at the No. 2 position from the pairing of junior Javier Pulgar and freshman Juan Florez, who beat USD's Nikola Bubnic and Nils Schive, 8-3. After the Toreros responded with a win at the No. 3 position, reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Week senior Giovanni Vaglietti paired up with freshman Hunter Nicholas to take down Drew Jackson and Patrick Pohlmann, 8-5, to secure the doubles point and give SDSU a 1-0 lead.
In singles play, tensions rose as wins at the No. 2 position by Pulgar and the No. 6 position by sophomore Jose Sierra Short were negated by losses at the No. 1 position by Vaglietti and No. 4 position by Nicholas. After Florez went down in straight sets to Thibaut Visy, 6-4, 6-2, it was all up to SDSU senior Andre Feliz. The senior would not disappoint. After losing the first set to USD's Patrick Pohlmann, Feliz battled back to take the second following tiebreakers. The senior then began to cramp, but remained undeterred as he dominated the third set to capture a 0-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory.
"We found a hero tonight in Andre Feliz," said head coach Gene Carwswell, who will guide the Aztecs to the MWC Championships later this month.
Feliz's heroics captured the spirit of the evening for the Aztecs, who dedicated the victory to missing senior Tim Schulz van Endert. The Aztec flew home this week for his mother's cancer surgery.
"It took a complete team effort to beat a very good San Diego team," said Carswell. "We've had a tough year with injuries, but now that we're getting healthy you can see the result. Our guys had to have real determination to battle to a victory, and they did. Lesser teams would not have showed up tonight."
Feliz also had encouraging words about an Aztec team hitting its stride at the end of the season.
"It feels real good to come out on top," said Feliz. "I don't know about me being the hero, I think the whole team did this one. We did this one together for Tim."
San Diego State def. No. 29 San Diego, 4-3
Aztec Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.
Doubles
1. Vaglietti/Nicholas (SDSU) def. Jackson/Pohlmann (USD), 8-5
2. Pulgar/Florez (SDSU) def. Bubnic/Schive (USD), 8-3
3. Spinosa/Visy (USD) def. Feliz/Sangwan (SDSU), 8-6
Singles
1. Drew Jackson (USD) def. Giovanni Vaglietti (SDSU), 6-4, 6-2
2. Javier Pulgar (SDSU) def. Nikola Bubnic (USD), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1
3. Andre Feliz (SDSU) def. Patrick Pohlmann (USD), 0-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2
4. Clarke Spinosa (USD) def. Hunter Nicholas (SDSU), 6-0, 6-2
5. Thibaut Visy (USD) def. Juan Florez (SDSU), 6-4, 6-2
6. Jose Sierra Short (SDSU) def. Emilio Mora (USD), 6-3, 6-7 (9), 6-4