Feb. 7, 2015
LOS ANGELES - The San Diego State men's tennis team fell short in its first dual match against a ranked opponent this season, as the Aztecs were topped by No. 10 UCLA, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Tennis Center. The second match of Saturday's doubleheader against No. 1 USC was postponed, and will be rescheduled at a later date still to be determined.
San Diego State (3-3, 0-1 MW) dropped the doubles point to begin the day, and UCLA (4-2) won the first three singles matches to seal the dual victory. The Aztecs No. 2 doubles team of senior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) and sophomore Marko Goles-Babic (Zagreb, Croatia) were edged by Joseph Di Giulio and Karue Sell, 6-0, before San Diego State's No. 1 duo of junior Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) and sophomore Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) suffered its first doubles loss of the season, falling to No. 11-ranked Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki, 6-3.
In addition, SDSU's No. 3 team of senior Andranik Khachatryan (Burbank, Calif.) and sophomore Jonas Meinzer (Buggingen, Germany) trailed Dennis Mkrtchian and Austin Rapp, 5-2, but were unable to finish once the Bruins clinched the doubles point.
In singles action, Meinzer was defeated in his No. 5 singles match by Sell, 6-0, 6-0, while sophomore Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Germany) came up short on the No. 4 court against No. 88-ranked Redlicki, 6-3, 6-0. UCLA went on to wrap up the dual match victory as Gelbrich dropped an intense, three-set No. 1 singles match to No. 7-ranked McDonald, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
With the final outcome already decided, the Aztecs found themselves in three close matches that were unable to finish. Bertsch was in a three-set battle with Mkrtchian, 6-2, 3-6, 3-2, Jebens was in a tight match against Gage Brymer, 3-6, 6-4, 2-3, and Khachatryan played even with Di Giulio, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 1-0.
San Diego State returns home to resume dual match play against Pacific on Sunday, Feb. 15, beginning at noon PT at Aztec Tennis Center.