For Aztec men’s head coach Gene Carswell, navigating the 2021 season required completing a crucial task: helping his players get better together.
“Through all of this,” Carswell said, “our Aztecs continued to make improvements in both singles and doubles in the spring and really jelled as a team. I think this culminated in our final Mountain West Conference match, where we defeated UNLV, 4-3. At the time, UNLV was tied for a share of the regular season championship.
“It would have been fun to play a conference championship tournament to see how far our group’s growth continued.”
The prospects for 2022?
“We always set our sights high and I believe our prospects are good for next year,” Carswell said. “We have a returning All-Mountain West Conference singles player in Johannes Seeman, our number one player and an All-Mountain West doubles tandem of Seemann and Victor Castro.”
Seeman, a native of Estonia, is a transfer from Fresno State. Castro is a Brazilian who transferred from Cerritos College
In an email, Carswell said “We have a group that gained valuable experience.
“Along with the return of Jules Auffray, Alex Scemanenco and our new recruits, this has me excited for next year!”
Scemaneco, a transfer from UC Davis, is from Cardiff by the Sea.
Affray, a freshman in 2019, is from Hyeres, France and trained at the Mouratoglu Tennis Academy.
Carswell praised Aaro Pollanen, a senior from Helsinki who had been expected to contend for the top 2021 singles position.
“A shoulder injury prevented him from reaching that goal and his true potential, Carswell said. “He did battle through several singles and doubles matches serving underhand at times to fight for the Aztecs.
“Without his willingness to play through the adversity of his injury, we would have defaulted a voided singles position and played with only 5 singles competitors on several occasions.
“Aaro will remain with the team this fall season as a volunteer coach, as he finishes his degree.”
Asked for the major lesson he learned in 2021, Carswell reflected:
“Obviously many lessons are taken from a year such as a crazy year. After losing (the chance to compete over) the majority of last year’s spring dual match and championship season and this year’s Fall Season & MW Spring Championship tournament, you really appreciate what a privilege and pleasure it is to play and compete at SDSU in university athletics at the NCAA Division 1 level.”