April 23, 2014
SAN DIEGO - The No. 75 San Diego State men's tennis team begins play in the 2014 Mountain West Men's Championships against UNLV on Thursday, April 24 at 2 p.m. PT, at the Sierra Sport and Racquet Club in Fresno, Calif. Live stats will be available on GoAztecs.com. It's the third time in the last five seasons the Aztecs have faced UNLV in the conference tournament.
SDSU (11-11, 3-1 MW) is the tournament's No. 3-seed, and is currently riding a two-match winning streak after knocking off Hawai'i, 5-2, at home on April 16 and topping UC Irvine, 5-2, on the road on April 19. The Aztecs have won the conference tournament three times in program history, and enter postseason play winners of four of their last seven dual matches overall.
Junior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) is the reigning MW Player of the Week, the conference announced on Tuesday. It was the fifth-career honor for Bertsch and the second for the Aztecs this dual season. The junior went a combined 4-0 in the two dual-match victories last week, earning straight-set singles wins in each match. He's 10-9 overall this dual season, all in the No. 1 slot, with four wins over nationally-ranked opponents.
Sophomore Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) is 10-10 overall this dual season, with a 9-9 mark on the No. 3 court. He and freshman doubles partner Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) are 11-6 overall, with 10 of its victories coming in No. 2 doubles.
San Diego State has won three-consecutive matches over UNLV, including a 4-3 road decision over the Rebels on Feb. 16. UNLV, the tournament's No. 6-seed, is 13-10 overall this dual season with a 3-3 mark in MW play. The Rebels have lost two of their last three matches after falling on the road to Nevada, 5-2, on Sunday.
With an Aztecs' victory on Thursday, they will face the winner between No. 2-seed New Mexico and No. 7 Air Force on Saturday, April 26 at 2 p.m. PT. No. 25-ranked Boise State is the tournament's No. 1 seed, and will take on No. 8-seed Utah State in the first round on Thursday, while No. 4-seed Nevada plays No. 5-seed Fresno State.