April 25, 2003

PROVO, Utah - The top-seeded San Diego State men's tennis team advanced to the Mountain West Conference Championship match by defeating fourth-seeded Air Force, 4-1. After winning the doubles point and claiming wins in Nos. 4-6 singles, the Aztecs will play for their second straight MWC Championship Saturday and a chance to advance to a fifth NCAA Championship appearance in six years.

In the title match, SDSU (14-9) will face the winner of today's 2 p.m. semifinal match between No. 2 seed New Mexico and No. 3 BYU.

The 30th-ranked Aztecs won the doubles point thanks to victories from the No. 2 (Daniel Jung and Armando Carrascosa) and No. 3 (Felix Hardt and Gabe Coren) positions. Coren then put SDSU up 2-0 with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Chris Dong at No. 6 singles.

The Falcons closed to within 2-1 as freshman Shannon Buck downed No. 34 Aztec senior Oliver Maiberger 6-1, 6-3. But SDSU received straight-set wins from Jung (6-0, 7-6) and Carrascosa (7-6, 6-3) at Nos. 4-5 singles to advance.

The title match is scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Mountain West Conference Men's Tennis Championship
Semifinal #1 - Provo, Utah

#1 San Diego State 4, #4 Air Force 1

Doubles (San Diego State wins point)
1. Maiberger/Redondo (SDSU), Pittman/McClung (AF) 7-3, DNF
2. Jung/Carrascosa (SDSU) def. Dong/Black (AF) 8-5
3. Hardt/Coren (SDSU) def. Buck/West (AF) 8-3

Singles (San Diego State 3-1)
1. Shannon Buck (AF) def. Oliver Maiberger (SDSU) 1-6, 3-6
2. Ryan Redondo (SDSU), Eric Pittman (AF) 6-4, DNF
3. Felix Hardt (SDSU), Tyler McClung (AF) 6-2, 5-7, DNF
4. Daniel Jung (SDSU) def. Justin Mancinelli (AF) 6-0, 7-6
5. Armando Carrascasa (SDSU) def. Trevor Johnson (AF) 7-6, 6-3
6. Gabe Coren (SDSU) def. Chris Dong (AF) 6-1, 7-5