March 15, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
The No. 75 San Diego State men's tennis team welcomes a challenging field of opponents to America's Finest City for the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic, which runs from Thurs., March 17 to Sat., March 19. The tournament, co-hosted with No. 34 USD, includes the two host schools, No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 36 Princeton, No. 26 Memphis, No. 49 Harvard, No. 28 Tulane and T-No. 46 Denver.
The Aztecs open the tournament against Texas Tech on Thursday at 2 p.m. Prior to SDSU's match, Princeton and Memphis will face off at 10 a.m. The winner of each match will play on Friday at a time to be determined, with the championship match held on Saturday. If San Diego State advances to the championship match, the match will be played at Aztec Tennis Center. If San Diego State does not advance to the championship match and USD advances, the match will be played at Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center. If neither San Diego State nor USD advances to the championship match, the match will be held at Aztec Tennis Center.
San Diego State enters the tournament on a high note after sweeping its matches last weekend against No. 70 Penn and Arizona. The Aztecs used a strong singles effort in both matches to secure the victories, with Hendrik Jebens, Milen Ianakiev, Sander Gjoels-Andersen and Marko Goles-Babic winning their matches on both days.
On Friday against then-No. 70 Penn, the Aztecs recorded their second win over a nationally ranked opponent by producing a 5-1 mark in singles play en route to their 5-2 win. In doubles play, Freddy Gelbrich and Goles-Babic recorded SDSU's first win over a nationally ranked opponent when they topped then-No. 30 Nicholai Westergaard and Austin Kaplan. Saturday saw SDSU use a total team effort against Arizona to produce its second consecutive win, coming from behind after dropping the doubles point to beat the Wildcats, 4-3.
The Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Spring Classic marks San Diego State's final matches before the start of Mountain West play. Following the tournament, the Aztecs will travel north for an action-packed spring break in Northern California, facing Fresno State on March 27, California on March 29, Santa Clara on March 30 and Nevada on April 1.