April 9, 2011
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State men's tennis team was unable to capitalize on an early lead Saturday afternoon, falling at home to No. 36 BYU, 5-2. The defeats ends SDSU's two-game win streak and brings them to 4-14 (2-3 Mountain West Conference) on the year.
The Aztecs came out on fire in front of a large and excited Aztec Tennis Center crowd, shocking BYU by taking the doubles point for a quick 1-0 lead.. Perhaps the most impressive display of the Aztecs' power occurred when the No. 2 pairing of junior Javier Pulgar and senior Tim Schulz van Endert denied BYU's Evan Urbina and Patrick Kawka of a single point, shutting them out, 8-0.
The Scarlet and Black's momentum would fade as the contest moved into singles play, however, as BYU flexed its muscles to produce a clinching 4-1 lead. Senior Giovanni Vaglietti would cut the deficit to two, defeating Cougar senior Evan Urbina at the No. 1 spot in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (5), but it proved to be in vain as BYU would win the final match to seal a 5-2 win.
Despite the discouraging results in singles play, the Aztecs remained competitive the entire day and forced a very talented Brigham Young squad to earn its points.
"We came out great in doubles play," said SDSU head coach Gene Carswell, "but in order to beat a quality team like BYU you have to have a complete performance. We didn't have that today, but we'll learn and be better prepared for next time."
SDSU will return to the courts on Friday, April 15, when they travel 10 minutes up the road to take on cross-town rival San Diego at 5 p.m. PT.
No. 36 Brigham Young def. San Diego State, 5-2
Aztec Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.
Doubles
1) Vaglietti/Nicholas (SDSU) def. Batrakov/Shubert (BYU), 8-6
2) Pulgar/Schulz van Endert (SDSU) def. Urbina/Kawka (BYU), 8-0
3) Warias/Smith (BYU) def. Feliz/Sangwan (SDSU), 8-6
Singles
1) Giovanni Vaglietti (SDSU) def. Evan Urbina (BYU), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
2) Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. Javier Pulgar (SDSU), 6-1, 6-3
3) Spencer Smith (BYU) def. Tim Schulz van Endert (SDSU), 6-3, 6-2
4) Patrick Kawka (BYU) def. Hunter Nicholas (SDSU), 6-1, 6-1
5) Thomas Shubert (BYU) def. Andre Feliz (SDSU), 6-3, 6-4
6) Roman Warias (BYU) def. Juan Florez (SDSU), 7-6 (4), 6-2