Jan. 13, 2016
SAN DIEGO - Fresh off of its highest national ranking earned since 2003, the No. 38 San Diego State men's tennis team opens its 2016 dual season Jan. 15-17 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic. The weekend will be capped with a match against UC Riverside on Sun., Jan. 17 at 1 p.m.
The 37th annual National Collegiate Tennis Classic, hosted by Sunrise Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., boasts a challenging field. It features seven teams, including San Diego State, that are ranked in the top 70 nationally: No. 8 USC, No. 14 UCLA, No. 16 Virginia Tech, No. 20 Stanford, No. 47 Indiana and No. 67 Fresno State, with Arizona and Arizona State rounding out the competition. Matches begin at 8 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday, with the singles finals kicking off at noon.
The Aztecs will close the weekend by competing against UC Riverside on Sun., Jan. 17 at 1 p.m. Led by first year head coach Mattias Johansson, the Highlanders will look to build upon a 2014-15 campaign that produced a 4-16 record and a first round exit from the Big West Conference Championships. All-Big West honorable mention singles pick Julian Ruffin returns for his senior season after leading the Highlanders at the one position, posting a 5-12 overall record.
San Diego State was ranked No. 38 by Oracle and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) to start 2016, the team's highest position since SDSU began the season at No. 28 in 2003. Appearing in the program's seventh NCAA Tournament, and first since 2005, last season, the Aztecs finished the 2015 campaign ranked No. 38 after advancing to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2003. Starting the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 40, San Diego State topped No. 21 USD before falling to the 2014 National Champion USC.
San Diego State's 2015-16 squad features six returning letterwinners, including Co-Mountain West Player of the Year Freddy Gelbrich, sitting 53rd nationally, and three newcomers in freshmen Raul de la Torre, Sander Gjoles-Anderson and Cornelius Kolb.