The two Aztec tennis teams staged stirring revivals this spring, compiling identical 15-10 won-loss records and driving deep into the final rounds of the Mountain West Conference championships. The Aztec men ranked 74th in the nation at season’s end.
Two Aztec women won all-conference honors in singles, a pair won in doubles. A pair of Aztec men won doubles honors and a graduating male senior was honored for singles and doubles.
Aztec men’s coach Gene Carswell cited four factors that led to his team’s turnaround:
“Growth and maturity, doubles improvement and continued hard work is how we’ve arrived where we are,” he said.
The Aztec men defeated UC Irvine, UC San Diego, USF, Portland, UC Davis, Drake, Memphis, Eastern Washington, Boise State, Santa Clara, Nevada, Air Force, UNLV (twice), and New Mexico.
The 4-3 Aztec victory over New Mexico came in the conference semifinals and reversed a 4-1 defeat by the Lobos just 11 days earlier.
Fresno State’s Bulldogs won the Mountain West crown by defeating the Aztec men, 4-2, in the championship final.
“This team will be back to finish what we’ve started. We expect to be champions,” Carswell told Summer ATR.
The Aztec women won five of their first seven matches in an explosive start that led to victories over Sacramento State, UC San Diego, UC Riverside, Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly, Hawaii, University of the Pacific, Quinnipiac, Yale, Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada, UC San Diego, Colorado State, and Air Force.
Aztec women’s coach Peter Mattera called it “a really great season.” Citing their strong won-loss record and battle to the conference final, Mattera praised his players for their team effort. “We had a wonderful experience and really represented SDSU in a high quality way.”
The UNLV women won the conference title by defeating the Aztec women 4-0 in the Mountain West final, repeating a 4-3 regular season victory two weeks earlier.
Mattera praised his entire team and singled out four by name.
“Individually, we placed two student-athletes on the All Conference singles team, Nnena Nadozie and Shakhnoza Khatamova.
“In doubles, Nadozie and her partner Alicia Melosch were named to the All-Conference doubles team. Also, Khatamova was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year.
“Nadozie and Abbie Mulbarger, both sophomores, had the most singles wins, at 21 and 17 respectfully.
“The doubles team of Nadozie and Melosch were in the ITA National rankings for most of the year as well, with a record of 10-5 overall, and 8-5 at the number one position.
The future looks bright as well,” said Mattera, pointing to five returning teammates and three recruits.
Among the men, Aztec Sander Gjoles-Andersen, team captain and a senior from Denmark, was honored in singles and doubles. His Aztec doubles partner was Ignacio Martinez, a sophomore, of Weston, FL
“We returned a large chunk of the guys who had worked hard to turn it around at the end of the 2018 season,” Carswell said.
“As we came into the 18-19 season, we continued to work to improve. We were stronger and became more mature for going through those tough moments in ’18,” Carswell said.
“Our doubles evolved, we won 12 of our last 13 doubles points to end the season.”
WINNERS: Shakhnoza Khatamova, left, won honors for singles and Freshman of Year. Alicia Melosch, center, won for doubles. Abbie Mulbarger, right, scored 17 singles victories for Aztecs.
TRIPLE PUNCH: Aztecs Ignacio Martinez, left. and Sander Gjoles-Andersen, center, won all-conference doubles honors. Jan Kirchoff, right, was a major contributor to men’s team.