March 10, 2015
SAN DIEGO - The No. 35 San Diego State men's tennis team dominated singles play to win its fifth-straight dual match on Tuesday afternoon, defeating William & Mary, 4-1, at Aztec Tennis Center.
The Aztecs improved to a perfect 9-0 at home this dual season, and have won 11-straight dual matches overall at Aztec Tennis Center. The five-consecutive victories is SDSU's longest streak since winning five in a row to conclude the 2013 regular season, and San Diego State (9-4, 1-1 MW) hasn't won six straight since its run of 10-consecutive victories in 2007.
SDSU got off to a slow start on Tuesday, as the Aztecs lost the doubles point for the first time in their last five matches. San Diego State's No. 3 team of sophomore Marko Goles-Babic (Zagreb, Croatia) and freshman Santiago Cevallos (Querétaro, Mexico) put the Aztecs ahead early with its victory over Christian Cargill and Scott Huang, 6-2, but the No. 2 unit of senior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) and sophomore Jonas Meinzer (Buggingen, Germany) dropped its match to Addison Appleby and Damon Niquet, 6-3.
Moments later, the Aztecs' No. 1 duo of junior Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) and sophomore Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany), ranked No. 63 in the nation, came up short in the deciding doubles match against Will Juggins and Aaron Chaffee, 6-4, to clinch the point for the Tribe.
San Diego State bounced back strong in singles action, however, starting with Gelbrich's decision on the No. 1 court over Juggins, 6-1, 6-1, while sophomore Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Germany) topped Huang on the No. 5 court, 6-3, 6-1. Sophomore Saxon Buehning (Essex Fells, N.J.) pulled SDSU within one point of the dual-match victory when he defeated Alec Miller in No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-2, and Bertsch sealed the win with his No. 2 singles decision over Cargill, 6-0, 7-5.
Jebens was on his way to another No. 3 singles victory once the outcome was decided, as he led Niquet, 6-4, 4-3, while Goles-Babic was locked in a three-set battle on the No. 4 court against Appleby, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 1-0.
SDSU goes for its sixth-straight win on Monday, when the Aztecs play host to No. 51 Iowa at 2 p.m. PT at Aztec Tennis Center.