April 9, 2014
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's tennis team came up short against crosstown foe No. 49 San Diego, 6-1, in a match much closer than the final score indicates on Wednesday evening at Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center on the USD campus.
SDSU (9-10, 3-0 MW) fell behind early in doubles action, as USD won two of three to earn the doubles point. The Aztecs' No. 1 duo of senior Hunter Nicholas (Park City, Utah) and junior Andranik Khachatryan (Burbank, Calif.) were topped by the Toreros' No. 46-ranked team of Clarke Spinosa and Filip Vittek, 8-5, before San Diego State's No. 2 unit of sophomore Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) and freshman Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) dropped its match to Uros Petronijevic and Romain Kalaydijan, 8-5, as USD clinched the point.
The Aztecs No. 3 doubles team of junior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) and senior Juan Florez (Bogota, Colombia) defeated Ciaran Fitzgerald and Andrew Raphaelson, 8-7 (6), to complete doubles action. It was the first time this season Bertsch and Florez were paired up in doubles play.
In singles action, Jebens fell to Vittek, 6-0, 6-1, in the No. 4 slot, while Bertsch was knocked off by 57th-ranked Spinosa, 6-0, 6-1, on the No. 1 court to put USD ahead in the match, 3-0.
The Toreros sealed the dual match victory when Nicholas was topped by Petronijevic, 6-2, 6-2, on the No. 2 court, while Florez came up short against Raphaelson in No. 6 singles, 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (9).
Gelbrich earned the Aztecs lone point of the day when he defeated Kalaydijan in three sets, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (1) in the No. 3 slot, and play concluded with Khachatryan dropping his match to Fitzgerald, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (9), in No. 5 singles.
San Diego State returns to action on Saturday, April 12, as it resumes Mountain West play at No. 22 Boise State beginning at 5:30 p.m. MT.