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SDSU Men's and Women's Tennis Teams Dominate All-Mountain West Teams
Maiberger and Tornier named league Players of the Year
April 25, 2002 SAN DIEGO - Juniors Oliver Maiberger and Silvia Tornier were named the Mountain West Conference men's and women's tennis players of the year on Tuesday night at the annual conference awards banquet. The Aztecs, which won both the men's and women's regular-season titles, placed three men and two women on the singles teams and both squads had two duos selected for the all-conference doubles teams.
The awards were voted on by the coaches and were announced Tuesday night at banquets held at the tournament sites. The league tournaments begin tomorrow with the men playing in Las Vegas and the women playing in Provo, Utah.
The San Diego State women's team, ranked 28th in the country, was well represented on the all-conference team. In addition to Tornier becoming the first Aztec women's player to be named player of the year, she was joined on the all-conference singles team by junior Lindsay Hedberg. Both players were selected to the Mountain West team for the second consecutive season.
Tornier, ranked 72nd nationally, has enjoyed a spectacular season. She is 16-6 overall, while playing 20 of her 22 matches at number one singles. Hedberg, owns a 12-11 mark while playing number two singles for the Aztecs.
San Diego State has two of the six doubles teams honored by the league. Junior Katja Karrento and sophomore Katalina Romero, who have compiled a 16-6 dual record playing predominantly at number one singles for the Aztecs were named all-conference. Joining them was the duo of Tornier and freshman Indra Erichsen, which is a perfect 9-0 since teaming up midway through the season. The Aztecs were the only team to place two doubles team on the all-conference team.
The Aztec men, ranked 28th nationally, placed a league-tying high three players on the singles team. In addition to Maiberger, who was named Mountain West Conference Player of the Year for the second-straight season, sophomore Felix Hardt and junior Valentino Pest were also selected all-conference. Head coach John Nelson earned coach of the year honors for guiding the Aztecs to the regular-season title.
Maiberger, ranked 17th nationally, is 12-4 in dual play and 25-8 overall. The junior owns 11 victories over ranked opponents this season. Hardt, who lead the Aztecs in dual victories this season, is 16-7 during the spring campaign while Pest has seen a majority of his action at number two singles. It was the second-consecutive all-league honor for both Maiberger and Pest.
Like the Aztec women, the men were also the only conference school to place two doubles teams on the all-league list. Maiberger and sophomore Ryan Redondo, ranked third nationally, were honored as was the 53rd-ranked duo of Hardt and Pest.
Both conference tournaments begin tomorrow. The top-seeded Aztec women will battle eighth-seeded Wyoming in a match scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. MDT. The Aztec men have a quarterfinal bye and will meet the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Utah and fifth-seeded UNLV on Friday at 1 p.m. PDT.
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