Andrew Huse / Assistant Photo Editor

Monday was a rough afternoon for the San Diego State men’s tennis team. After two straight victories at home, No. 50 SDSU fell 5-2 to No. 24 Rice at the Aztec Tennis Center, resulting in an emergency team meeting after the match.However, the meeting and the dark cloud hanging over the team had little to do with the final score. Aztec players and coaches huddled together after the match in what was obviously an intense meeting. At one point, assistant coach Ryan Redondo became so fed up, he walked off in disgust. What was said is only known by the players and coaches. But the meeting itself was called because of the actions of the team’s top three singles players, junior Bartosz Golas, and sophomores Juan Gomez and Achim Ceban. All three players lost, but each was also penalized during their match for violations of “inappropriate conduct” in accordance with NCAA rules. Head coach Gene Carswell was not shy in expressing his feelings about the actions of three of his players.”Certainly, nobody on the front three courts handled themselves with class today,” Carswell said. “I think those players are a little bit immature.”Golas felt the calls on his court were unfair during the middle of his match. He threw his racket and drew a penalty, beginning a torrent of penalties for SDSU.With each penalty, players acted more out of control than the last.In the No. 2 singles position, while losing in a lopsided match, Juan Gomez directed a tirade of profanities at the tennis ball. Play continued until a close call, when he too threw his racket and then kicked it. This resulted in a carryover penalty, where a point is penalized in the next closest match. Sophomore Matan Shitrit also lost his match, but he seemed more upset with the team’s conduct than his defeat.”We are behaving very childish, like babies,” Shitrit said. “It’s something that can’t happen. Throwing rackets is basically throwing in the towel, saying I don’t want to play anymore. “It’s something that can’t happen.”Finally, Ceban capped the afternoon with a blue streak that would make Johnny McEnroe cringe. When he was given the carryover penalty from Gomez’s match, Ceban went berserk.He struck the ball against the net before turning around and forcefully throwing his racket against the fence. After a second carryover penalty, he turned and shouted in Russian at the officiating judge, who penalized him an entire game.Ironically, to solve the immaturity problem the Aztecs could look to their youngest players. Freshman Andre Feliz was one of the few who showed his ability to not dwell on close calls during a match. “It all comes down to choices,” Carswell said. “Andre Feliz, he’s continued to be a great leader as a freshman leading by example. Just showing up and winning matches. You don’t see him whining and crying over there even though he’s losing games too.”The attitude issues surrounding the team took away from a phenomenal comeback by freshman Danny Heidecker in the final singles match. Heidecker trailed 5-0 in the final set before charging back to win his match.