SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's tennis team returns to action this weekend for a pair of non-conference matches, playing host to UC Davis on Friday, Feb. 28, before hitting the road to battle UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, March 1.
The Aztecs' home match vs. the Aggies is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. PT, while their road clash with the Gauchos is slated for an 11 a.m. start.
SDSU (3-4) is coming off a 4-3 triumph at Mountain West rival Boise State on Feb. 23. The Aztecs captured the doubles point and claimed three of the first four singles matches to secure the win. With the victory, San Diego State snapped a six-match road losing streak to the Broncos, winning for the first time in Boise since 1994.
Individually, Jan Kirchhoff was a double winner for the Scarlet and Black, teaming with Aaro Pollanen for the first time this spring to defeat the Boise State tandem of Kyryll Kryvchun and Kemal Karagozoglu in the No. 3 position. The Aztec junior also ended a personal two-match slide in singles after upending Simon Arca Costas, 6-2, 6-2, in the third slot.
Ignacio Martinez and David Hough were also victorious in singles, while Arnaud Restifo and Fabian Roensdorf provided the clinching result in doubles with a 6-3 conquest of the Broncos' Mark Papadopoulos and Michael Bott at No. 2.
Hough leads the Aztecs with 10 singles victories overall, including three during the spring schedule, which is tied for the top spot with Restifo and Kirchhoff.
UC Davis (6-4) has won five of its last seven outings but came up empty in 4-0 loss at home to Washington in its last match on Feb. 23. The Aggies' other defeat during that stretch occurred in a 4-2 loss at UNLV on Feb. 14.
For the season, UC Davis is led by Andrei Volgin, who has compiled a 20-6 overall singles record, including a 6-2 mark this spring alternating between the fourth and fifth spots in the Aggies' rotation. Chethan Swanson (15-9), Arjith Jayaraman (12-9) and Ivan Thamma (11-9) have also amassed double-digit victory totals for the year, including six apiece in dual-match competition. Additionally, Thamma and Swanson have pocketed three wins in the No. 1 and No. 3 spots, respectively, while Jayaraman is 3-0 at No. 6 this spring.
In doubles play, Thamma has joined forces with David Goulak to post a 4-2 record at the No. 1 spot, while Volgin and Daniel Landa have recorded a 4-4 mark in tandem at No. 2.
SDSU has split two previous encounters with UC Davis at home, dropping a narrow 4-3 decision in 2017, before posting a 4-0 shutout last season. Veterans Martinez and Rafael Gonzalez Almazan were victorious in singles at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, in the latter match, with Martinez and Kirchhoff combining for an earlier win at No. 2 doubles to help key the Aztecs' whitewash.
Should Alex Scemanenco crack the starting lineup for San Diego State on Friday, he will face his former teammates after posting an 11-13 singles record as a freshman at UC Davis during the 2018-19 campaign.
After losing five straight, UC Santa Barbara (4-8) blanked Pacific 7-0 and cruised to a 6-1 triumph over San Francisco at home on consecutive days last weekend (Feb. 22-23).
The Gauchos are led by Joseph Guillin, who has compiled a 19-8 overall singles record, including a 7-3 mark this spring at the No. 1 spot. He received a No. 16 ITA singles ranking on Feb. 18. In addition, Alejandro Vedri has accumulated a 12-8 ledger for the season, including a 6-4 mark in duals, playing primarily in the third position. Elsewhere, Victor Krustev is 11-10 on the year and 7-3 for the spring, seeing action almost entirely at No. 2.
In doubles, Guillin and Vedri have teamed for a 10-4 overall record and an 8-3 mark this spring, alternating between the first and second spots.
Despite leading the all-time series 16-12 since 1989, San Diego State will be looking to snap a three-match losing streak to UCSB after falling by a 5-2 count at Aztec Tennis Center last year. Gonzalez Almazan is the lone SDSU returner to post a victory in that encounter when he prevailed in a three-set marathon over Alex Dominguez Soto, 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-6(9).
The Gauchos are one of four Big West Conference teams the Aztecs will face in 2020. SDSU, which defeated UC Irvine 5-2 on Feb. 1, will also square off against the aforementioned UC Davis squad, along with Cal Poly on April 1. The Aztecs are 68-25 against current members of the Big West dating back to 1989.
The Aztecs went 4-3 in singles against Gaucho opponents during the fall tournament schedule, including a 6-4, 6-2 victory by Hough over Dominguez Soto in the Flight B third-place singles match at the UCSB Fall Classic.
Following this weekend's action, SDSU will play host to San Diego Christian on Thursday, March 5, starting at 3 p.m. PT.