SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's tennis team returns to courts for a pair of dual matches this weekend when it plays host to the University of Pennsylvania and Air Force on consecutive days, March 12-13, at Aztec Tennis Center.
The Aztecs-Quakers showdown is slated to get underway on Saturday at 9 a.m. PT, while the Scarlet and Black's Mountain West opener against the Falcons is set for a 10 a.m. start on Sunday.
SDSU is coming off a 4-0 loss to then-No. 23 Utah at home on March 6. The Aztecs dropped a closely contested doubles point before the Utes pulled away with three victories in singles competition.
San Diego State has been bolstered by the addition of Joe Tyler, a transfer from Iowa who sports a 12-5 overall singles record this year, including a 6-1 mark in dual matches. The Corby, England, native posted a combined 4-0 record in doubles and singles in the Aztecs' recent doubleheader split with then-No. 46 Gonzaga and Pomona-Pitzer on Feb. 26 en route to his second Mountain West Player of the Week honor of the spring.
Elsewhere on SDSU's singles ladder, Judson Blair ranks second on the squad with 10 victories for the year, including a 3-5 ledger in dual matches playing primarily at the No. 6 position, while Victor Castro (8-11) and Alexander Mandma (9-9) have racked up three wins each at the third and fourth spots, respectively.
In doubles play, Tyler and Mandma (2-0) won their last completed matches at the top of the rotation against Gonzaga and Pomona-Pitzer and held a 5-4 lead their battle with the nationally ranked Utes before the encounter was abandoned. Meanwhile, Castro has teamed with Johannes Seeman recently to post a 2-1 mark in the second slot. Castro and Seeman, who garnered all-MW accolades in doubles following the 2021 campaign, posted three victories last weekend at the prestigious Pacific Coast Doubles Championships at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.
Penn (9-3) is in the midst of a West Coast swing, snapping a two-match losing streak with a 4-3 victory over Washington at the University of San Diego's Hogan Family Tennis Center on Thursday. Prior to Saturday's match with the Aztecs, the Quakers will battle USD on Friday afternoon.
Penn has been led by Aditya Gupta, who has amassed an 8-1 singles record this spring playing primarily at the third and fourth spots on the Quakers' ladder, while Edoardo Graziani has compiled a 7-3 record in the No. 1 position.
In doubles, Graziani has joined forced with Jason Hildebrandt for an unblemished 6-0 mark in the top spot to go with four unfinished matches.
The Aztecs have faced the Quakers just three times in the last 27 years—all in San Diego—capturing a pair of 5-2 decisions in 2014 and 2016 after dropping a 5-4 nail-biter in 1995. Dating back to 1989, SDSU is 29-17 against Ivy League teams. The Aztecs last faced an Ivy League squad on March 22, 2019, when it fell to No. 38 Harvard by a 4-1 count at home.
Air Force (10-4) has won three straight, including a 4-0 triumph over Army at the USTA College Matchday event in its last outing on Feb. 19 in Orlando, Florida. Before engaging SDSU, the Falcons will tangle with UC San Diego in La Jolla on Friday afternoon.
Air Force has been led by freshman Arjun Kersten, who has compiled a 10-1 singles record this spring playing primarily in the No. 4 position, while senior Robert Baylon and junior Jonathan Mascagni have racked up nine victories apiece. Baylon has totaled all of his wins in the No. 1 spot, while Mascagni and Kersten have seen the bulk of their action in the No. 2 and No. 4 slots, respectively.
The Falcons have utilized 12 different doubles tandems this spring, including the pairing of Nick Vroman and Justin Waldman, who have compiled a 3-1 record in the No. 3 position, while Baylon has teamed with Jordan Azuma for a 4-3 mark at No. 1. In addition, Mascagni and Kersten have gone 2-0 in two appearances at the top of the rotation as well.
SDSU had its 32-match winning streak against Air Force snapped last season in a 4-1 loss at the Academy. The Aztecs captured the hard-fought doubles point, but the Falcons rebounded with four victories in singles play to pull off the victory. SDSU sports a 103-52 record against current Mountain West members.
Following this weekend's action, San Diego State jumps back into action on Saturday, March 19, when it locks horns with Hawai'i in an off-campus dual match at Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club, starting at noon PT.