SAN DIEGO – This weekend, the San Diego State men's tennis team will play its final two matches of the regular season. First, SDSU will head to Albuquerque, N.M., to face the No. 60-ranked New Mexico Lobos on Thursday, April 20 at 4 p.m. MT/3 p.m. PT. Then, the Aztecs will travel to USAF Academy, Colo., to face the Air Force Falcons on Saturday, April 22 at Noon MT/11 a.m. PT.
Last week, the Scarlet and Black (2-13, 0-4) played two close matches at home, beating UC San Diego 4-3 on Saturday, April 15, before falling by the same score to Nevada the following day.
Last weekend, senior Chikaya Sato and reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Week Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice led the way for San Diego State with both going 2-0 in singles. Sato played on the second court and did not lose a set, winning 6-2, 6-4 over UC San Diego's Phillip Lan and double bageling Nevada's Delmas N'Tcha 6-0, 6-0. Gonzalez Fitzmaurice played on court No. 5 and beat UC San Diego's Jett Cole 6-1, 7-6 (2) and Nevada's Juan Batalla 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. SDSU also won the doubles point against Nevada on Sunday with Alexander Mandma and Bora Sengul beating Matheo Coupu and Youssef Kadiri Hassani 7-5 and Gonzalez Fitzmaurice and Andre Saleh taking down Pedro Liborio and Satchel Benn 6-4.
The No. 60-ranked Lobos (13-5, 5-0) last won road matches at No. 61 Boise State 4-3 and Utah State 4-2 on Friday, April 14, and Sunday, April 16, respectively. The Falcons (11-9, 0-4) lost 4-2 to Omaha on Thursday, April 13. They face UNLV on Thursday before they play the Aztecs.
Last year, San Diego State won 4-1 over New Mexico to improve to 24-20 in the all-time series against them. SDSU also won 4-1 in its first conference match last season to improve to 33-2 all-time against Air Force.
Next week, San Diego State will compete in the Mountain West Championships in Las Vegas, with first round matches happening on Wednesday, April 26 at 5 p.m. PT.