San Diego State men’s tennis started off conference play on the wrong foot, falling to red-hot Boise State 4-0.
SDSU has now lost three games in a row and is 2-5 this season. It has lost its last three games by a combined total of 12-2, while two of the three losses have been shutouts.
Boise State, meanwhile, has now won eight games in a row while improving their record to 10-1.
Despite the scoresheet, the Aztecs still gave the Broncos a run for their money, starting with sophomores Johannes Seeman and Victor Castro dropping redshirt junior Blake Bayldon and redshirt sophomore Simon Arca Costas 6-4 at the No. 1 spot.
Boise State then proceeded to achieve victory in two highly-contested matches to secure the doubles point.
Graduate senior Rafael Gonzales Almazan and senior Ignacio Martinez erased a 5-2 deficit against redshirt sophomore Michael Bott and freshman Caden Moortgat but couldn’t prevail as they eventually lost in a 7-6 (4) overtime decision.
On court No. 3, a grueling back-and-forth duel was being waged as SDSU senior Aaro Pollanen and freshman Roni Rikkonen did battle with redshirt sophomore Lukas Ridemar and redshirt freshman Luka Soskic. At the end of the match, it was the Broncos who escaped with a 7-5 victory.
Moving to singles, the Aztecs tried to stage a comeback but were met at every turn by the Broncos.
Blair was the first to fall as his match against Bott went south quickly, ending in a 6-3, 6-1 defeat for the SDSU freshman.
Castro fared little better as his defeat to Soskic came shortly after Blair’s, falling to the BSU freshman by a 7-5, 6-2 score.
The Aztecs had their backs against the wall and were one loss away from losing the match. With the remaining Aztecs playing to stay alive, each game became a fight to survive.
They could only play for so long. Costas dealt the finishing blow by upending Gonzales Almazan 6-3, 6-2 to secure BSU’s tenth win of the season. The final three matches were suspended after Costas’ win.
SDSU will return to their non-conference schedule on March 17 against Loyola Marymount at the Aztec Tennis Center.
