SDSU Men’s Teams Save Themselves : Fund Raising Campaigns Mean Another Year for Tennis, Volleyball

Successful fund-raising campaigns have enabled the San Diego State varsity men’s tennis and volleyball programs to continue to field teams, according to an announcement by SDSU acting Athletic Director Robert Rinehart on Wednesday.

Both sports had been trimmed from the budget last spring. At a meeting on campus Wednesday, the Intercollegiate Athletic Authority’s finance committee was told the men’s tennis team had raised $31,000 in cash and pledges and the volleyball team had raised $34,000 in cash and pledges.

Hearing that, the finance committee voted unanimously to continue services for the sports. The recommendation went to SDSU President Thomas Day, who endorsed the proposal Wednesday afternoon.

The tennis team competes in the Western Athletic Conference and the volleyball team is a member of the California Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.

“We are thrilled that these two very important sports will again be with the Aztec athletic program this year,” Rinehart said. “I can’t say enough about Skip Redondo (tennis coach) and Mark Warner (volleyball coach). Not only did they fight their hearts out to save their teams. They were were able to convince their athletes to keep the faith and stay in the program. This is a happy day for us, believe me. We’re glad to have them aboard, and we will do everything we can to help them succeed.”

Rinehart said that the university will take steps to insure that the tennis and volleyball teams will not find themselves in jeopardy in the future.

“We aren’t ready to announce the specifics,” Rinehart said, “but we are determined to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. These coaches, and these players have enough to worry about without having to worry about the funding of their programs.”