March 5, 2013
="" alt="Twitter Logo" border="0" class="imported"> ="" alt="Facebook Logo" border="0" class="imported"> UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Mike Garabedian
UCFAthletics.com
San Diego, Calif. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF men's tennis team endured a 4-3 loss on the road Tuesday against No. 36 San Diego State. The defeat knocked the Knights back to .500 with an overall record of 6-6.
"We are close to breaking through against ranked teams," UCF head coach Bobby Cashman said after the match. "But we have to do a better job maintaining our momentum once we establish it."
The Aztecs (9-4) jumped to an early lead after sweeping the doubles point to begin the afternoon, which ended up being the difference maker.
However, UCF showed its ability to bounce back after a poor start and recuperate to split singles play.
Senior Jorge Blasco once again played superb tennis against the other team's best, defeating the No. 71 singles player in the country, Derek Siddiqui, 6-4, 6-4. Blasco has now won seven of his last eight matches and has a team-high eight singles victories, all at the No. 1 position.
Jose Sangroniz needed only two sets to take care of business. At the No. 4 slot, he defeated SDSU's Marvin Tawasi, 7-5, 6-1. The true freshman has accumulated five wins during singles play this season.
At the No. 6 spot, Francesc Aulina battled back from a second-set defeat to win a super-set tiebreaker, 6-2, 4-6, (11-9), against Andranik Khachatryan. Aulina has compiled an impressive 6-4 singles record, after missing all of last year due to injury.
"We had some guys step up and play big for us today. Credit to Jorge, Jose and Kiku for out playing their opponents all the way through," Cashman added.
UCF will bus down to Irvine, Calif., and return to the courts Wednesday for a 4 p.m. ET match against 2-9 UC-Irvine. The Knights are 1-2 all-time against the Anteaters, last defeating their squad, 5-2, at the UCF Tennis Complex in 2004.
Doubles:
1. Nicholas/Bertsch (SDSU) def. Pedro Wagner/Matthew Gladstone (UCF) 8-4
2. Siddiqui/Khachatryan (SDSU) def. Amar Hromic/Jorge Blasco (UCF) 8-2
3. Florez/Tawasi (SDSU) def. Mario Samson/Francesc Aulina (UCF) 8-5
Singles:
1. Jorge Blasco (UCF) def. No. 71 Derek Siddiqui (SDSU) 6-4, 6-4
2. Thorsten Bertsch (SDSU) def. Amar Hromic (UCF) 6-1, 7-6(2)
3. Hunter Nicholas (SDSU) def. Pedro Wagner (UCF) 6-2, 6-3
4. Jose Sangroniz (UCF) def. Marvin Tawasi (SDSU) 7-5, 6-1
5. Juan Florez (SDSU) def. Matthew Gladstone (UCF) 6-2, 6-3
6. Francesc Aulina (UCF) def. Andranik Khachatryan 6-2, 4-6, (11-9)