March 21, 2015
SAN DIEGO - The No. 38 San Diego State men's tennis team wrapped up the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Tennis Classic with a convincing victory over No. 43 Denver, 4-1, Saturday afternoon at Aztec Tennis Center.
SDSU (12-5, 1-1 MW) has won eight of its last 10 dual matches, and finished this weekend's tournament with two-straight wins. The Aztecs also improved to 12-1 at home this season.
In a rare occurrence of late, the Aztecs began the day by dropping the doubles point. San Diego State's No. 1 team and 63rd-ranked duo of junior Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) and sophomore Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) fell short in its match against 43rd-ranked Alex Gasson and Henry Craig, 6-2, but the No. 3 unit of sophomore Marko Goles-Babic (Zagreb, Croatia) and senior Andranik Khachatryan (Burbank, Calif.) won a tight battle over David Fox and Zach Fryer, 7-6 (0).
With the doubles point on the line, SDSU's No. 2 team of senior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) and sophomore Jonas Meinzer (Buggingen, Germany) lost a close match to Diogo Rocha and Yannick James, 7-5.
However, the Aztecs took over once single play began. Jebens started the rally with his No. 3 singles victory over Gasson, 6-3, 6-3, and sophomore Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Germany) followed with his No. 5 singes win against James, 6-4, 6-4.
Khachatryan pushed SDSU's lead to 3-1 with his straight-sets decision over Wyatt Lovera, 6-2, 6-4, and Goles-Babic clinched the dual-match victory with his No. 4 singles win against Fox, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
With the final outcome decided, Gelbrich was locked in a tight match after winning the first set against 93rd-ranked Craig, 7-6 (5), 1-2, with Bertsch playing in the second set against Rocha, 6-4, 0-4.
San Diego State returns to the court on Saturday, March 28, as the Aztecs play host to Santa Clara beginning at 1 p.m. PT at Aztec Tennis Center.