SAN DIEGO – San Diego State's Ignacio Martinez was named Mountain West Men's Tennis Player of the Week in a league announcement on Wednesday. With his award, the Aztec sophomore received the first conference weekly honor of his career and the team's first of the season.
A native of Weston, Florida, Martinez played a key role in SDSU's 4-0 home victory over UC Davis in a non-conference dual match on Feb. 28, before advancing to the round of 16 at the Pacific Coast Doubles Championships on March 1 in La Jolla, Calif., where he teamed with fellow Aztec Jan Kirchhoff.
In doubles competition vs. the Aggies, Martinez and Kirchhoff joined forces to defeat the tandem of Daniel Landa and Alex Scemanenco by a 6-3 count to help San Diego State capture its second straight doubles point in a dual match and fourth of the spring.
Later in the dual, Martinez recorded the Aztecs' second singles triumph of the day after dispatching Nil Giraldez, 6-2, 6-4, as the Scarlet and Black completed its first shutout since April 29, 2016 vs. Air Force in the first round of the Mountain West Championship.
The following day, Martinez and Kirchhoff competed in four matches at the 130th annual Pacific Coast Championships, where they posted an impressive 3-1 record.
After opening with an 8-5 decision over the Villanova pairing of Tommy Mulflur and Stefan Agustin Suarez, the SDSU duo upset the tournament's No. 2-seeded tandem of Billy Griffith and J.T. Nishimura by an 8-3 tally in the second round. Last year while playing at Cal, Griffith and Nishimura finished with collegiate careers with a No. 52 ITA doubles ranking after advancing to the round of 32 at the NCAA Championships.
Martinez and his Aztec partner soon followed with an 8-5 conquest of UCLA's Eric Hahn and Mathew Tsolakyan, before suffering an 8-3 setback in the round of 16 to Pepperdine's Enrique Luque Rico and Matias Sborowitz.
Martinez and San Diego State resume their spring schedule on Saturday, March 16, when they play host to No. 27 San Diego at Aztec Tennis Center, starting at noon PT.