Jan. 16, 2016
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - The San Diego State men's tennis team will compete for National Collegiate Tennis Classic (NCTC) titles in both the singles and doubles brackets after a successful second day of the tournament on Saturday at the Sunrise Country Club.
In the tournament's main draw, Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) was pitted against teammate Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Hesse, Germany) and Gelbrich topped the junior, 6-1, 6-4. Gelbrich will face off against USC's Henry Ji for the singles title on Sunday.
Doubles action saw the pairing of Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) and Gelbrich squeak by fellow Aztecs Santiago Cevallos (Queretaro, Mexico) and Sander Gjoles-Anderson (Klampenborg, Denmark), 7-6 (4). The 2015 All-Mountain West doubles pairing will take on Marko Goles-Babic (Zagreb, Croatia) and Ianakiev, who retired Fresno State's Mantas Bugailiskis and Patrick Pech, 6-2, creating a Scarlet and Black doubles final.
In the doubles consolation bracket, Cornelius Kolb (Frankfurt, Germany) and Jonas Meinzer (Buggingen, Germany) fell to David Laser and Ji of USC, 6-3. The consolation singles bracket produced a win for Kolb, who topped Pech in a tight match, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3) to advance to the bracket's final, while Raul de la Torre (Calexico, Calif.) dropped his consolation match to Laser, 3-6, 4-6.
NCTC action continues Sunday at 10 a.m., beginning with the doubles final, while Gelbrich plays for the singles title at 11:30 a.m. San Diego State competes in a dual match against UC Riverside following the conclusion of the tournament.