COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – San Diego State's Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (Madrid, Spain) was named Mountain West Men's Tennis Player of the Week on Wednesday for a series of exceptional performances for the period spanning March 2-8.
With his award, Gonzalez Almazan collected the second conference weekly honor of his career and the Aztecs' third this season, joining David Hough (Jan. 22) and Ignacio Martinez (Feb. 5).
Gonzalez Almazan played a key role in SDSU's 7-0 shutout of San Diego Christian at home on March 5, posting victories in both doubles and singles. The Aztec senior joined forces with Ignacio Martinez to provide the clinching decision in doubles with a 6-2 triumph over Chris Papa and Ivan Smith at the No. 1 position, as the Scarlet and Black duo improved to 3-0 in dual-match competition.
The Madrid, Spain, native also supplied the requisite fourth team point in the No. 4 singles spot, where he pinned a 6-1, 7-5 defeat on the Hawks' David Samardzija, a former D1 player at Nebraska.
In addition, Gonzalez Almazan combined with Martinez at the prestigious Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships in La Jolla, California, where the Aztec tandem finished with a 4-1 record after advancing to the quarterfinal round.
The SDSU pairing opened the tournament on March 6 with an 8-5 upset over the fourth-seeded combo of Etienne Donnet and Mathieu Scaglia from Oklahoma State, which was ranked 21st in the latest ITA team poll. They quickly progressed in the bracket with victories over Ian Habbestad and Jake Williams of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (8-4) and the UC Irvine connection of Bruce Man-Son-Hing and Tyler Pham (8-1).
Gonzalez Almazan and his teammate continued their progress the following day with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over UCI's Ali Amiri and Antoine Barthe in the round of 16 before dropping a 6-4, 6-4 decision in the quarterfinals to seventh-seeded Ben Draper and Bjorn Hoffmann of California, who were ranked 38th by the ITA prior to the event.
San Diego State resumes its spring schedule on Wednesday, March 25 with a non-conference dual match vs. Stanford at Aztec Tennis Center, starting at 2 p.m. PT.