April 22, 2012
SAN DIEGO - The No. 61 San Diego State men's tennis team used a hard-fought win from Juan Florez at number six singles to defeat No. 57 UC Santa Barbara, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Aztec Tennis Center. SDSU improves to 15-7, while the Gauchos drop to 13-9.
"Juan was our hero today, he showed a tremendous amount of courage to come through in crunch time," head coach Gene Carswell said. "UCSB fought well and my hat goes off to their team and coaches."
In doubles play, the Aztecs earned the point after getting wins at number one and three. Hunter Nicholas and Rickey Baylon cruised to an 8-2 decision over Ziad Sultan and Alexander Gryaznov to start the match. After the Gauchos notched a victory, SDSU took a 1-0 lead when Javier Pulgar and Freddy Gelbrich picked up the 9-7 victory against Mathieu Forget and Benjamin Recknagel.
Thorsten Bertsch continued SDSU's momentum into singles play as he notched a 6-3, 6-0 win against Mbonisi Ndimande. UCSB notched the next two victories, but Hunter Nicholas gave the Aztecs a 3-2 lead when the sophomore earned a three-set win against Alexander Gryaznov. The Gauchos managed to tie it back up though and force the match into a decisive battle at number six singles.
In the crucial match, Juan Florez fought valiantly through tiebreakers in all three sets and eventually defeated Max Glenn to give the Aztecs a win in their regular-season finale.
San Diego State will now prepare for the Mountain West Championships next weekend at the Aztec Tennis Center. SDSU is the No. 2 seed and will play the winner of New Mexico vs. Air Force at 10 a.m. PT on Saturday, April 28.
No. 61 San Diego State 4, No. 57 UC Santa Barbara 3
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Aztec Tennis Center | San Diego, Calif.
DOUBLES
1. Javier Pulgar / Freddy Gelbrich (SDSU) def. Mathieu Forget / Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) --- 9-7
2. Mbonisi Ndimande / Alex Johnson (UCSB) def. Thorsten Bertsch / Derek Siddiqui (SDSU) --- 8-6
3. Hunter Nicholas / Rickey Baylon (SDSU) def. Ziad Sultan / Alexander Gryaznov (UCSB) --- 8-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
SINGLES
1. No. 118 Mathieu Forget (UCSB) def. No. 109 Javier Pulgar (SDSU) --- 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2
2. Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) def. Derek Siddiqui (SDSU) --- 7-5, 6-2
3. Thorsten Bertsch (SDSU) def. Mbonisi Ndimande (UCSB) --- 6-3, 6-0
4. Ziad Sultan (UCSB) def. Freddy Gelbrich (SDSU) --- 2-6, 7-5, 6-1
5. Hunter Nicholas (SDSU) def. Alexander Gryaznov (UCSB) --- 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
6. Juan Florez (SDSU) def. Max Glenn (UCSB) --- 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8)
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1, 5, 4, 6