SAN DIEGO – Continuing its weekend play as a split squad in the Battle in the Bay Qualifying and Wildcat Invitational, members of the San Diego State men's tennis team picked up four singles wins and one doubles victory on Saturday.
Battle in the Bay Qualifying, Berkeley, Calif.
Senior Chikaya Sato and freshman Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice, both in the consolation bracket, earned 6-1, 6-3 and 6-2, 6-4 wins over Milos Dabic of UNLV and Johan Garpered of San Francisco, respectively.
Johannes Seeman, a junior, went to three sets against UC Davis' Andrei Volgin, but came up short by a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and junior Bora Sengul took the first set against UNLV's Aaron Bailey, but couldn't keep that momentum in a 4-6, 6-0, 10-2 loss.
In doubles action, Gonzalez Fitzmaurice and Seeman faced Lucas Magnaudet and Alex Chang from California in the quarterfinals. They battled until the end, but fell just short, losing in the tiebreaker 8-7 (4). Sato and Sengul suffered the same fate, being bested by California's Mikey Wright and Andrei Volgin in the quarterfinals 8-1.
Wildcat Invitational, Tucson, Ariz.
Lenny Melzer and Liam Spiers each picked up victories, their first as Aztecs.
Spiers faced off against Grand Canyon's David Wekesa and the pair battled to a tiebreaker in each of the three sets they played. The final was 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 10-3 in Spiers' favor. He will do battle against independent Roko Stipetic tomorrow.
Melzer was scheduled to play Gonzaga's Martin Bats, but Bats withdrew due to injury. Melzer is due to face Morgan Donovan of Northern Arizona on Sunday to finish the tournament.
Mathieu Josserand suffered a 6-3, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Paolo Rosati of Grand Canyon. His tournament will finish with a match against Loic Van Zeggelaar of Grand Canyon, while Andre Saleh was bested by Jonathan Da Silva of Grand Canyon 6-1, 6-2. He will face New Mexico State's Jordy Visser in his final match on Sunday.
On the doubles side of the bracket, Spiers and Melzer were scheduled to play Pablo Gomez Galvan and Martin Bats from Gonzaga, but due to an injury to Bats, the Bulldogs were forced to withdraw. The Aztec advanced to the semifinals and drew Henrik Lynum and Vassanth Mathan from New Mexico State. Spiers and Melzer came through with the 6-2 victory and will face another pair of Aggies, Itay Feigin and Jordy Visser, in the consolation finals.
In setting up tomorrow's double match, Josserand and Saleh went up against Feigin and Visser and were bested 6-1, denying them an opportunity to make it an all Aztecs consolation finals.
Both tournaments wrap up on Sunday.
-SDSU-