San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec




San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913

The Daily Aztec

Men’s tennis drops match, 4-1, to No. 38 Harvard on first day of San Diego Spring Classic

Senior+Sander+Gjoels-Anderson+swings+his+racket+during+the+Aztecs+4-1+loss+to+Harvard+on+March+22+at+the+Aztec+Tennis+Center.
Aaron Tolentino
Senior Sander Gjoels-Anderson swings his racket during the Aztecs’ 4-1 loss to Harvard on March 22 at the Aztec Tennis Center.

San Diego State men’s tennis was defeated by No. 38 Harvard, 4-1, on the first day of the San Diego Spring Classic on at the Aztec Tennis Center on March 22. 

Head coach Gene Carswell said the matches were close, but he wanted to get the victory.

“I would’ve like to come on the other side,” he said. “I’m proud of the way our guys fought and competed today. That’s one of the better teams in the country, highly nationally ranked and we’ve got some things to build on from that performance.”

The home squad had opportunities to steal the victory.

“We had match points here at (courts) No. 1 when that got called; we also had match points at (court) No. 6,” Carswell said. “It’s a few points here and there.”

In singles’ action, junior Arnaud Restifo got the win over Harvard’s Harris Walker, 6-7, 6-4 and 6-3.

Sophomores Jan Kirchhoff and Ignacio Martinez were able to get the victory in doubles over Brian Shi and Robert Wrzesinski, 6-2.

This was the Aztecs (5-6) first game in the classic, which features four teams within the top 50 of the ITA rankings (No. 36 San Diego, No. 38 Harvard, No. 49 Tulane and No. 50 Princeton).

Carswell said there were great matches throughout the first day of the classic.

“A lot good competition on campus today… this is one of the best college events you could be a part of,” Carswell said. “We’re really happy that we got all of these teams to come out our way and have a good day of San Diego weather to do some battling out here.”

The Aztecs were on six different courts during their match. Luckily for them, Carswell said his coaches help him with strategy and with who to coach more. 

“Coach Jeff Thomsen has been with me forever and coach Larry Willens, he’s a legend coaching in San Diego, so I don’t have to be at all those courts at once,” he said.

Despite coaching multiple players at once, Carswell would like to be able to have more one-on-one assistance in a match, especially playing a ranked team, like Harvard.

“It would be nice to be able sit with (senior) Sander (Gjoels-Andersen) or with (junior) Fabian (Roensdorf) or Jan (Kirchhoff) on a day like today and help get them through their match,” he said. “You have to divide and conquer and choose your moments where you’re trying to give some helpful information here and there and impart what you’re seeing from their opponents and what they need to implement in their play.”

The opponents the home team will face gives them good competition for not only this weekend, but for the rest of the season, according to Carswell.

“The tougher teams we get to face, it makes us that much tougher when we hit the end of the year and our goal is to play our best tennis at the end of the year,” Carswell said. “We want to be that team that makes the tournament that’s going in an upward trend versus a downward trend. Seeing this tough competition is going to pay dividends when we go to into conference and our backs our against the wall.”

The Scarlet and Blake will face Drake on March 23 to continue the classic.

 

About the Contributors
Breven Honda, Senior Staff Writer
Breven Honda is a fourth-year journalism student at SDSU and in his third year writing for The Daily Aztec. Originally from San Diego, he is a big baseball fan and loves the Padres. He also enjoys basketball, football, golf, volleyball and tennis. Following college, Breven wants to be somewhere in the realm of sports journalism either broadcasting or reporting.
Aaron Tolentino, Sports Editor
Aaron is in his second and final year at SDSU. He is a junior college transfer from the Bay Area. From his previous experience covering junior college football, he has transitioned to the Aztec football beat where he is well plugged into the program – often breaking news first about the team. He has visited different road football stadiums, such as Stanford, Fresno State, San José State and UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Some of his highlights working at The Daily Aztec include covering the Mountain West Championship game in Las Vegas, casually sitting behind the legendary broadcaster Kevin Harlan (no big deal). Follow Aaron on Twitter @atolent2 to get the latest scoop on SDSU sports and one day see him break the news from that same account.
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San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper Since 1913
Men’s tennis drops match, 4-1, to No. 38 Harvard on first day of San Diego Spring Classic