Glenn Connelly / Photo Editor

Once each year, San Diego State men’s tennis head coach Gene Carswell has the opportunity to pick up a racket with his team and challenge some of the best college tennis teams in the country.

This year, Carswell and SDSU (1-7) had mixed success at the 121st Pacific Coast Doubles Championship held March 5 through 7 at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.

“That was a good time,” Carswell said. “I played with (William Kellogg) the tournament director whose family started the (La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club) years and years ago and it was great with the tradition of the tournament. He’s somewhere in his mid- to late-50’s and we beat a college team from USD.”

The Pacific Coast Doubles Championship is a doubles-only event and featured ranked teams from all across the country such as Stanford, USC and Rice.

Doubles play is a strength for the Aztecs, who swept the doubles matches against No. 28 Fresno State and won two out of three matches to take the doubles point against No. 6 UCLA in their respective dual matches earlier this season.

However, UCLA owned SDSU in the tournament, beating the Aztecs’ teams of senior Juan Gomez and sophomore Luis Rattenhuber in the first round, of 128 and juniors Andre Feliz and Tim Schulz van Endert in the second round of 64.

Senior Achim Ceban and junior Giovanni Vaglietti had a bye in the first round but lost in the round of 64 in three sets (6-0, 3-6, 6-4). Sophomore Jose Sierra Short and junior Matthew Tosches failed to get out of the round of 128 but made it to the third round of the consolation bracket.

In the consolation bracket, Gomez and Rattenhuber met with Ceban and Vaglietti in the quarterfinals, and the duo of Ceban and Vaglietti won in three sets (4-6, 7-5,6-3) to reach the semifinals.

Sunday’s matches were postponed because of rain, and Ceban and Vaglietti will play in the consolation semifinals on April 4 against Oscar Podlewski and Dennis Polyakov from No. 31 Rice.

Carswell had success last year, making it to the round of 16. This time, Carswell and new partner Kellogg beat Casey Powers and Elias Scandalis of USD in the first round, but lost in round 64.

Carswell wanted the team to take away a simple yet vital message from the tournament: “Even though doubles is a (team) strength, we still have many things to work on.”

The Pacific Coast Doubles Championship is the second oldest tennis tournament in U.S. history. According to its official Web site, it was first held in 1890 in Monterey not for the sake of athletics, but to promote the sale of real estate on the Monterey peninsula.

Originally meant to be a competition between the best players from the West against the best players from the East, it was the inspiration for the Davis Cup in professional tennis.

Past winners include John McEnroe, Arthur Ashe and Bobby Riggs, considered three of the greatest players to ever pick up a racket. SDSU’s next match is against No. 58 Boise State at 11 a.m. this Saturday at the Aztec Tennis Center. The match is free, and the team is giving away pizza and soda for all those in attendance.