Next Match: at Pepperdine 2/10/2019 | 7 p.m. CT

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The No. 23-ranked Alabama men's tennis team defeated the San Diego State Aztecs 5-2 on Friday night at the Aztec Tennis Center. With the win, the Crimson Tide improves to an overall 7-1 record, while San Diego State falls to 2-2.

"Today was a good start to the outdoor season with a solid performance over a very spirited Aztec team," said head coach George Husack . "We faced challenges in both doubles and singles but kept our heads in the game and capitalized, attacked, and snatched our opportunities. Today, the Alabama whole was greater than the sum of the parts."

The Aztecs won a 6-3 decision on court one over senior Mazen Osama and sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta to begin doubles play. Alabama responded back, as juniors Alexey Nesterov and Thibault Cancel topped Jan Kirchhoff and Ignacio Martinez 6-4 on court three. With the doubles point on the line, juniors Edson Ortiz and Zhe Zhou defeated Nicholas Mitchell and Fabian Rosensdorf in a 7-5 decision to give Alabama a 1-0 match lead headed into singles play.

In singles play, the Tide carried the momentum in straight sets as Ortiz dominated court two, 6-1, 6-4, and Zhe Zhou won, 6-3, 6-1, on court three. No. 40 Mazen Osama clinched the match victory, 6-4, 6-4, on court one. Cancel outlasted Ignacio Martinez in a tiebreaker thriller, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8). San Diego State went on to win the final two points as sophomore Jeremy Gschwendtner fell, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), and Jan Kirchhoff won a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) 10-3, decision over Nesterov.

Alabama will remain on the road, when the team travels to Malibu, Calif. to play Pepperdine on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT.

Alabama Results

Doubles

Gjoels-Andersen/Gonzalez-Almazan def. Osama/Kaukovalta, 6-3 Cancel/Nesterov def. Kirchhoff/Martinez, 6-4 Zhou/Ortiz def. Mitchell/Rosensdorf, 7-5

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles

Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1, 3, 5, 6

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