SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – All four representatives of the San Diego State men's tennis team competed in both singles and doubles on the first day of the UCSB Fall Classic. Liam Spiers swept his way to victory while Mathieu Josserand and Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice each pushed his opponent to a winner take all third set.
Riding a two-match winning streak, Spiers swept Southern Methodist's Eli Susser 6-3, 6-2 to continue his run of good play.
Battling Loyola Marymount's Austin Di Giulio, Josserand jumped out to an early lead, taking the first set 6-1, and sending the second to a 12th game, but he couldn't finish Di Giulio off in the second, and fell in three 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Playing an even closer match than Josserand, Gonzalez Fitzmaurice lost the first set 6-4, before claiming the second 7-5, and sending the deciding third to a tiebreaker. The comeback was not enough as Brigham Young's Zach Fuchs triumphed in the third 7-6 (5).
Andre Saleh forced a tiebreaker in the first set, but ran out of steam, losing to New Mexico's Daniil Kakhniuk 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Meanwhile, in doubles, Spiers and Saleh won six games, but it was not enough to beat Westmont's tandem of Logan Thompson and Ethan Ha. The Scarlet and Black combo fell 8-6.
Josserand and Gonzalez Fitzmaurice battled Brigham Young's Zach Fuchs and Mateo Vereau. The set went to a tiebreaker, but it was the Cougars who ended up on top with a 8-7 (4) win.
The UCSB Fall Classic continues tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 8.
Live Stats can be found on the ITA Website: https://bit.ly/3rA7qgE
UCSB Fall Classic
Santa Barbara, Calif.
Arnhold Tennis Center
UC Santa Barbara
San Diego State's Day One Results
Liam Spiers (SDSU) def. Eli Susser (SMU) 6-3, 6-2
Daniil Kakhniuk (UNM) def. Andre Saleh (SDSU) 7-6 (5), 6-3
Austin Di Giulio (LMU) def. Mathieu Josserand (SDSU) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2
Zach Fuchs (BYU) def. Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (SDSU) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
Thompson/Ha (Westmont) def. Spiers/Saleh (SDSU) 8-6
Fuchs/Vereau (BYU) def. Josserand/Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (SDSU) 8-7 (4)