SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's tennis team opened its 2019 spring schedule on a sour note Sunday, dropping a 5-2 decision to visiting UC Santa Barbara in a non-conference dual match at Aztec Tennis Center.
SDSU stormed out of the gates quickly as the doubles team of Jan Kirchhoff and Ignacio Martinez cruised to a 6-0 shutout over the Gaucho tandem of Victor Krustev and Joseph Rotheram in the No. 2 position. However, UCSB subsequently stole the Aztecs' thunder by winning the next two encounters to capture the early doubles point.
In the No. 3 spot, the Gaucho pairing of Joseph Guillin and Alex Dominguez Soto dispatched SDSU's newly minted combo of Arnaud Restifo and Fabian Roensdorf by a 6-4 count, while the duo of Nicolas Moreno de Alboran and Anders Holm pinned a 6-3 defeat on the Aztecs' Sander Gjoels-Andersen and Rafael Gonzalez Almazan at the top of the rotation.
Trailing 1-0, San Diego State lost further ground after ceding the first two singles matches. First off the court was Restifo, who experienced a 6-0, 6-3 setback to Krustev in the No. 3 slot, while Martinez fell victim to 22nd-ranked Guillin in the second position by a 6-3, 6-4 tally.
Shortly thereafter, the Aztecs finally dented the scoreboard when Gjoels-Andersen dismissed Rotheram at No. 4, 6-3, 6-4.
Over on the No. 1 court, Roensdorf drew the unenviable task of facing Moreno de Alboran in his first singles start for the Scarlet and Black, as his UCSB adversary entered the spring with a No. 6 ITA ranking. The SDSU mid-season transfer kept things close in the two-set affair, but could not force a third before ultimately succumbing by a 6-4, 7-6(4) margin, which gave the Gauchos the requisite fourth point for victory.
With the outcome no longer in question, the teams split the final two matches of the afternoon in three-set fashion. In the fifth spot, Kirchhoff held a late lead in the third set against Hironori Koyangi, but ran out of steam, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), while Gonzalez Almazan outlasted Dominguez Soto in a marathon battle at No. 6, 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(9).
San Diego State continues its season-opening six-match homestand next weekend when it plays host to UC Irvine on Saturday, Jan. 26, at Aztec Tennis Center. First serve is set for noon PT.
UC Santa Barbara 5, San Diego State 2
Jan. 20, 2019
San Diego, Calif.
Aztec Tennis Center
Doubles
1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran/Anders Holm (UCSB) def. Sander Gjoels-Andersen/Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (SDSU), 6-3
2. Jan Kirchhoff/Ignacio Martinez (SDSU) def. Victor Krustev/Joseph Rotheram (UCSB), 6-0
3. Joseph Guillin/ Alex Dominguez Soto (UCSB) def. Arnaud Restifo/Fabian Roensdorf (SDSU), 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
UCSB wins doubles point
Singles
1. #6 Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (UCSB) def. Fabian Roensdorf (SDSU), 6-4, 7-6(4)
2. #22 Joseph Guillin (UCSB) def. Ignacio Martinez (SDSU), 6-3, 6-4
3. Victor Krustev (UCSB) def. Arnaud Restifo (SDSU), 6-0, 6-3
4. Sander Gjoels-Andersen (SDSU) def. Joseph Rotheram (UCSB), 6-3, 6-4
5. Hironori Koyanagi (UCSB) def. Jan Kirchhoff (SDSU), 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5)
6. Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (SDSU) def. Alex Dominguez Soto (UCSB), 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(9)
Order of finish: 3, 2, 4, 1*, 5, 6
* Match-clinching victory