April 12, 2014
BOISE, Idaho - The San Diego State men's tennis team's furious rally fell short on Saturday evening, as the Aztecs dropped their match to No. 22 Boise State, 4-3, at Appleton Tennis Center.
SDSU (9-11, 3-1 MW) won three-straight singles matches to knot the score, 3-3, before freshman Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) was edged in three sets by Garrett Patton on the No. 4 court, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7), to seal the dual-match victory. In the process, the Aztecs' 12-match Mountain West regular season winning streak came to an end.
The match began with Boise State (23-4, 4-0) winning the first two doubles matches to earn the doubles point. San Diego State's No. 3 team of junior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) and senior Juan Florez (Bogota, Colombia) fell to Toby Mitchell and Nathan Sereke, 8-1, before the No. 2 duo of sophomore Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) and Jebens were topped by Brendan McClain and Patton, 8-4, to clinch the point.
The Aztecs No. 1 team of senior Hunter Nicholas (Park City, Utah) and junior Andranik Khachatryan had its match go unfinished, with the Broncos team of Andy Bettles and Thomas Tenreiro slightly ahead, 6-5.
Singles action began with freshman Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Germany) falling to McClain in No. 5 singles, 6-2, 6-0, before Khachatryan was knocked off by Mitchell, 6-2, 6-4, on the No. 6 court to push Boise State's lead to 3-0.
However, San Diego State stormed back starting with Nicholas' victory over Sereke in No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-4, followed by Bertsch's decision over 85th-ranked Bettles, 6-1, 6-4, on the No. 1 court. For Bertsch, it's his fourth victory this season over a ranked opponent.
Gelbrich's narrow win over Tenreiro in the No. 3 slot, 7-6 (8), 6-3, tied the match up, 3-3, before Jebens was narrowly edged by Patton to clinch the victory for the Broncos.
The Aztecs return to action on Wednesday, April 16, when they play host to Hawai'i beginning at 2 p.m. PT at Aztec Tennis Center.