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Goles-Babic, Ianakiev earn all-conference honors in singles and doubles
Source: goaztecs.com
Photo: Marko Goles-Babic courtesy goaztecs.com
April 27, 2017 (San Diego) - San Diego State men’s tennis players Marko Goles-Babic (Zagreb, Croatia) and Milen Ianakiev (Elz, Hesse, Germany) earned all-Mountain West honors in both singles and doubles competition, as announced Thursday evening at the MW Men’s Tennis Championship banquet.
With his awards, Goles-Babic garnered the first two all-conference accolades of his career, while Ianakiev became a three-time honoree after receiving all-MW recognition in doubles a year ago.
Goles-Babic, who leads the Aztecs with a 16-10 singles record, including an 11-7 mark in dual matches, has emerged triumphant his last seven encounters and is 5-0 in Mountain West play heading into the conference tournament. The SDSU senior has displayed tremendous leadership at the top of the team’s rotation over the past several weeks, posting the decisive point in victories over Air Force and Santa Clara while adding a pair of timely conquests in wins over New Mexico and UNLV.
Ianakiev has compiled a 13-12 mark in singles this year, including an 8-9 ledger in dual matches playing primarily in the No. 2 spot. The Aztec senior has won three of his last four to even his record at 3-3 in MW competition, including a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over UNLV’s Alexandr Cozbinov to help the Scarlet and Black capture its fourth straight victory to close the regular season. In January, Ianakiev also emerged with a straight-set decision over Mate Cutura of No. 20 Mississippi State.
In doubles action this year, Goles-Babic and Ianakiev compiled a 6-2 overall record, including a 5-1 mark in dual-match competition, all in the top spot. Last month, the Aztec duo joined forces to defeat two nationally ranked pairings in No. 40 Brian Yeung and Kenny Tao of Harvard and No. 42 Jayson Amos and Armando Soemarno of Oregon at the San Diego Spring Break Tournament. In addition, the SDSU teammates found themselves in a tight battle with No. 3 Julian Cash and Arjun Kadhe of Oklahoma State in a previous dual, trailing just 5-4, before the match was suspended. With their efforts, Goles-Babic and Ianakiev were ranked 51st nationally for two weeks in March by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).
The Aztec tandem also continued their strong play against league foes, knocking off the pairing of Samuel Serrano and Kai Wehnelt from MW regular-season champion Utah State on the road by a 6-4 count.
Competing as the No. 5 seed, San Diego State (9-14) will take on fourth-seeded New Mexico (12-12) on Friday in the opening round of the MW Championship at Appleton Tennis Center in Boise, Idaho. The Aztecs-Lobos clash is scheduled to begin no earlier than 3 p.m. MT/2 p.m. PT, with live stats and streaming video available on GoAztecs.com.
2016-17 Men’s Tennis All-Mountain West Team
Singles
Marko Goles-Babic, San Diego State
Milen Ianakiev, San Diego State
Kyle Butters, Boise State
Euan McIntosh, Fresno State
Xander Veys, Fresno State
Kostya Nesterenko, Nevada
Ricky Hernandez-Tong, New Mexico
Bart Van Leijsen, New Mexico
Jakob Amilon, UNLV
Alexandr Cozbinov, UNLV
Samuel Serrano, Utah State
Kai Wehnelt, Utah State
Doubles
Jack Heslin/Kyle Butters,Boise State
Patric Pech/Euan McIntosh,Fresno State
Dominic West/Bart Van Leijsen,New Mexico
Marko Goles-Babic/Milen Ianakiev, San Diego State
Jakob Amilon/Evaldo Neto, UNLV
Samuel Serrano/ Kai Wehnelt, Utah State