Jan. 15, 2016
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – The No. 38 San Diego State men's tennis team notched four victories on the opening day of the National Collegiate Tennis Classic (NCTC) at the Sunrise Country Club on Friday, with two Aztecs taking home victories in the singles quarterfinals and a doubles pairing departing the first day with a win.
Sander Gjoles-Anderson (Klampenborg, Denmark) topped his opponent in his first appearance of the day, securing a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win over USC's David Laser. He then fell to teammate Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Hesse, Germany), 6-2, 6-1, who received a first round bye.
Also receiving a first round bye were Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany), who beat Fresno State's Patrick Pech, 7-5, 6-2, Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany), who lost to USC's Henry Ji, 7-5, 4-6, 1-6, and Jonas Meinzer (Buggingen, Germany) suffered a loss to Fresno State's Mantas Bugailiskis, 7-6 (10), 3-6, 3-6.
After taking the first set against Pech 7-5, Raul de la Torre (Calexico, Calif.) fell in the ensuing sets, 2-6, 3-6. Santiago Cevallos (Queretaro, Mexico) also lost his tournament debut, falling 2-6, 6-7 (4) to Bugailiskis. In his first appearance as an Aztec, Cornelius Kolb (Frankfurt, Germany) dropped 2-6, 4-6 to Ji.
In doubles action, the pairing of Cevallos and Gjoles-Anderson topped Laser and Ji from USC with a 7-5 victory, while Kolb and Meinzer fell to Pech and Bugailiskis, 6-3. The pairings of Marko Goles-Babic (Zagreb, Croatia) and Ianakiev and Jebens and Gelbrich received first round byes and will begin competition tomorrow.
Action at the NCTC resumes Saturday at 8 a.m. PT.