SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. – The San Diego State men's tennis team sent four players to this weekend's UCSB Fall Classic at the Arnhold Tennis Center in Santa Barbara, California. Mathieu Josserand, Robin Parts, Andre Saleh and Liam Spiers competed in both singles and doubles on the first day of the tournament on the campus of UC Santa Barbara.
A native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Spiers took on Westmont's Owen Vander Ark. He coasted to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the Warrior. Tomorrow, Spiers will battle Vander Ark's teammate, Ethan Ha, in the semifinals.
Another Aztec who faced a Warrior, Josserand was up against Logan Thompson. The Frenchman cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win. In the semifinals, Josserand will play Cal Poly's Bastiaan Weststrate.
After playing together in last year's UCSB Fall Classic, Saleh and Spiers reunited to play doubles together again this year. They battled UC Irvine's Lawee Sherif and Andy Nguyen. The Aztecs were too much for the Anteaters, winning 8-2. They move on to the semifinals, where they will oppose Grand Canyon's Paolo Rosati and Alfred Almasi.
Saleh drew Loyola Marymount's Max Wuefling. He came up just short in the first set 7-5. Saleh was even closer in the second and forced a tiebreaker but ended up falling by the smallest of margins 7-6 (7-5). He draws Grand Canyon's Rosati in the consolation bracket tomorrow.
Coming off a win last Sunday in the ITA All-American Championships, Parts went up against UCLA's Timothy Li. He battled in the first set but fell 7-5. Parts didn't fare much better in the second set as he was bested 6-2. He will duel Cal Poly's Colter Smith tomorrow.
Parts and Josserand faced host UC Santa Barbara's Gianluca Brunkow and Lucca Liu. The match was very close but went to the Gauchos 8-6. The Aztecs will try to bounce back against UC Irvine's Rithvik Krishna and Matthew Sah on Saturday.
You can follow along with the action on the ITA website: https://colleges.wearecollegetennis.com/Competitions/ITA/Tournaments/overview/1B87F32D-C9F2-46B6-9C8B-466BE9985333
UCSB Fall Classic
Arnhold Tennis Center
Santa Barbara, Calif.
San Diego State's Day One Results
Liam Spiers (SDSU) def. Owen Vander Ark (Westmont) 6-1, 6-3
Saleh/Spiers (SDSU) def. Sherif/Nguyen (UCI) 8-2
Mathieu Josserand (SDSU) def. Logan Thompson (Westmont) 6-3, 6-2
Timothy Li (UCLA) def. Robin Parts (SDSU) 7-5, 6-2
Max Wuefling (LMU) def. Andre Saleh (SDSU) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
Brunkow/Liu (UCSB) def. Parts/Josserand (SDSU) 8-6