April 24, 2014
FRESNO, Calif. - The No. 75-ranked San Diego State men's tennis team defeated UNLV, 4-1, in the Mountain West Championship quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon at the Sierra Sport Racquet Club. With the victory, the No. 3-seeded Aztecs take on No. 2-seed New Mexico on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT, in a rematch of the 2013 semifinals.
SDSU (12-11) bounced back after dropping the doubles point to begin the match by earning four-straight victories in singles play. Freshman Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Germany) defeated Jakob Amilon, 6-3, 6-2, in the No. 6 slot to begin singles action, while senior Hunter Nicholas (Park City, Utah) topped Denys Pume, 7-6 (2), 6-3, on the No. 2 court to put the Aztecs ahead, 2-1.
Sophomore Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) knocked off Tamas Batyi in No. 3 singles, 6-4, 6-4, to put SDSU one win away from advancing, and junior Thorsten Bertsch clinched the victory on the No. 1 court over Ace Matias, 6-3, 6-3.
Doubles play began with the Aztecs' No. 3 duo of freshman Jonas Meinzer (Buggingen, Germany) and junior Andranik Khachatryan (Burbank, Calif.) falling to Dimitar Petrov and Amilon, 8-5, before San Diego State's No. 2 team of Gelbrich and freshman Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) evened it up with its decision over Batyi and Willie Sublette, 8-6. However, SDSU's No. 1 unit of Nicholas and Bertsch came up short against Pume and Matias in a tight match, 8-7 (2), sealing the doubles point for UNLV.
The Aztecs' top doubles team of Nicholas and Bertsch were named all-MW on Wednesday evening, while Nicholas and Bertsch also each earned all-MW singles honors.
On the other side of the bracket, No. 1-seed Boise State defeated Utah State, 4-0, to set up a semifinal match up with No. 4-seed Nevada, which topped Fresno State, 4-1, on Thursday.