April 26, 2006

SAN DIEGO - San Diego State men's tennis head coach Gene Carswell was named the Mountain West Conference coach of the year Wednesday night at the league's annual championship banquet. The Aztecs also collected four additional team awards on the evening as three singles players and one doubles team received all-conference recognition.

Carswell won his second consecutive MWC coach of the year award after leading the Aztecs to a perfect 6-0 league slate and a 14-7 overall mark in 2006. In his three seasons at the helm of the scarlet and black, Carswell has compiled a 42-22 overall record, including a 13-2 mark in conference matches. Under his guidance, the Aztecs also captured the MWC regular season and tournament titles in 2005.

Meanwhile, the SDSU pairing of senior Benedikt Stronk and junior Markus Dickhardt received all-MWC accolades for the first time ever in doubles competition. The 13th-ranked Aztec duo posted a 13-4 record on the year, including a 4-0 mark against ranked opponents.

Not to be outdone, Stronk and Dickhardt were each named to the league's all-singles team as well. Dickhardt was honored for the third consecutive year after going 19-8 on the season, while Stronk was a repeat selection for the second year in a row after fashioning a 16-7 record in 2006, including a 5-1 mark in MWC action.

Rounding out the list of winners for SDSU was junior Christian Groh, who garnered his first career all-conference singles award after posting a 22-5 record during the year, including a 5-1 mark in league matches to earn a No. 86 national ranking.

The 48th-ranked Aztecs travel down the road to Barnes Tennis Center this weekend to defend their conference tournament title at the 2006 MWC Tennis Championships. With its undefeated league mark, SDSU enters the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the MWC, and will face the winner of the Utah-UNLV showdown in a semifinal match on Friday, April 28, beginning at 2 p.m.