April 26, 2014
FRESNO, Calif. - The San Diego State men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought, back-and-forth match to No. 2-seed New Mexico, 4-3, in the Mountain West Championship semifinals Saturday evening at Sierra Racquet Club.
With the score tied, 3-3, it all came down to No. 1 singles, as SDSU junior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) lost an epit three-set battle to Semir Iftikhar, 2-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-3, ending the Aztecs' season in the semifinals for the second-consecutive season.
The match began with New Mexico earning the first two victories in doubles play to claim an early 1-0 lead. San Diego State's No. 1 team of Bertsch and senior Hunter Nicholas (Park City, Utah) came up short against James Hignet and Iftikhar, 8-5, before the Aztecs' No. 3 duo of senior Juan Florez (Bogota, Colombia) and freshman Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Germany) were topped by Andy Van Der Vyver and Mads Hegelund, 8-5.
No. 2 doubles action ended with sophomore Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) and freshman Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) trailing Hayden Sabatka and Rodolfo Jauregui, 3-2, when the Lobos clinched the doubles point.
SDSU (12-12) quickly knotted the score in singles play, as Jebens topped Van Der Vyver, 6-1, 6-2, on the No. 4 court, but UNM went back ahead 2-1 when junior Andranik Khachatryan (Burbank, Calif.) dropped his match in No. 5 singles to Hignett, 6-2, 6-0.
The match continued to go back and forth, with the Aztecs again knotting the score on Ianakiev's victory over Hegelund, 6-4, 6-0, in No. 6 singles, and Nicholas put San Diego State on top, 3-2, with his win against Sabatka, 6-4, 6-3, on the No. 2 court. Gelbrich lost his No. 3 singles match to Jauregui, 6-3, 6-1, to pull New Mexico even at 3-3, before the Lobos prevailed in the No. 1 singles battle.
The Aztecs now wait to see if they earn an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, with the selection show set for Tuesday, April 29 at 2 p.m. PT.