IRVINE, Calif. – The San Diego State men's tennis team snapped a two-match losing streak Saturday with a 5-2 conquest of UC Irvine in a non-conference road clash at Anteater Tennis Center.
The Aztecs (2-3) won a closely contested doubles point before claiming the first three decisions in singles competition to secure their fifth straight victory over the Anteaters and raise their record to 15-6 in the all-time series dating back to 1989.
The SDSU pairing of Ignacio Martinez and Aaro Pollanen broke a four-match slide with narrow victory at No. 1 doubles over the UCI duo of Bruce Man-Son-Hing and Mateusz Smolicki, 7-6(3), to give the Scarlet and Black an early 1-0 lead on the team scoreboard it would not relinquish.
Earlier, the combo of Arnaud Restifo and Fabian Roensdorf found minimal resistance in a 6-0 whitewash of Jeremy Merville and Matthew Sah in the No. 2 spot.
However, the Anteaters leveled the round shortly thereafter when Antoine Barthe and Daniel Gealer upended the Aztec tandem of Rafael Gonzalez Almazan and Jan Kirchhoff at No. 3, setting the stage for the thriller on court one.
With momentum on their side, the Aztecs left no doubt in singles, winning three straight encounters before UCI netted a point. First off the court was Roensdorf, who pinned a 6-2, 6-3 defeat on Smolicki at the top of the ladder, while Martinez put the brakes on personal six-match losing skid with a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Mike Mkrtchian at No. 6.
Moments later, David Hough disposed of Ali Amiri by a 6-2, 6-3 count in the fifth position, giving SDSU the requisite fourth point for the team victory.
UCI finally got the goose egg off the scoreboard when Mark Peneff knocked off Kirchhoff, 6-2, 6-4, in the second spot, while Daniel Gealer defeated Pollanen in a super-tiebreaker at No. 3, 1-6, 6-4, 10-4. However, those two wins came too little too late, as Restifo accounted for the Aztecs' final tally with a super-tiebreaker of his own in the fourth position, outlasting Merville, 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-3.
San Diego State will play the fourth opponent of its six-match road swing next weekend when it travels to Los Angeles to battle Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Feb. 8. First serve is set for 2 p.m. PT.
San Diego State 5, UC Irvine 2
Feb. 1, 2020
Irvine, Calif.
Anteater Tennis Stadium
Doubles
1. Ignacio Martinez/Aaro Pollanen (SDSU) def. Bruce Man-Son-Hing/Mateusz Smolicki (UCI), 7-6(3)
2. Arnaud Restifo/Fabian Roensdorf (SDSU) def. Jeremy Merville/Matthew Sah (UCI), 6-0
3. Antoine Barthe/Daniel Gealer (UCI) def. Rafael Gonzalez Almazan/Jan Kirchhoff (SDSU), 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
SDSU wins doubles point
Singles
1. Fabian Roensdorf (SDSU) def. Mateusz Smolicki (UCI), 6-2, 6-3
2. Mark Peneff (UCI) def. Jan Kirchhoff (SDSU), 6-2, 6-4
3. Daniel Gealer (UCI) def. Aaro Pollanen (SDSU), 1-6, 6-4, 10-4
4. Arnaud Restifo (SDSU) def. Jeremy Merville (UCI), 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-3
5. David Hough (SDSU) def. Ali Amiri (UCI), 6-2, 6-3
6. Ignacio Martinez (SDSU) def. Mike Mkrtchian (UCI), 6-4, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 6, 5,* 2, 3, 4
* Match-clinching victory