SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's tennis team returns to America's Finest City this weekend to host a dual match against the No. 34 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at the Aztec Tennis Center at 1 p.m. PT on Thursday, March 2. Then, SDSU will then compete in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championships at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club from Friday, March 3 through Sunday, March 5.
The Scarlet and Black (1-4) will try to bounce back from a weekend in Los Angeles where they were swept by Loyola Marymount and now No. 57-ranked Utah.
The Gauchos (9-1) suffered their first loss of the season last time out at No. 56 Pepperdine on February 24.
A season ago, SDSU fell 4-2 at UCSB, but since 1989, the Aztecs retain a 16-15 advantage in the series. San Diego State is 81-32 against Big West teams during that same period.
In addition to a team ranking of 34, the Gauchos have the No. 114 ranked singles player in Pablo Masjuan and the No. 25 ranked doubles duo of Kai Brady and Phillip Jordan.
The Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships is the second-oldest tennis event in the United States. Last season, Johannes Seeman and Victor Castro won three matches to advance to the Round of 16. Past winners feature such notables as Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura, Don Budge, Tony Trabert, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz, Arthur Ashe, Dennis Ralston, John McEnroe and many other world-class champions. Approximately 30 schools are set to compete in the event including No. 3 Michigan, No. 7 USC, No. 21 Stanford, No. 26 San Diego, No. 27 UCLA, No. 29 California, No. 34 UCSB and No. 56 Pepperdine.
Following this weekend, the Aztecs will remain in San Diego for the rest of March. They will face No. 9 Harvard and No. 49 Wisconsin on Monday, March 13, and Wednesday, March 15, respectively. After hosting the San Diego Spring Invitational Friday, March 17 through Sunday, March 19, SDSU will close out its nonconference schedule with a match against UTSA on Friday, March 31.