College Notebook / Rick Hazeltine : Aztecs Operating on a Tennis String

Before a recent men’s tennis match, San Diego State Coach Skip Redondo gave his players some last-minute instructions in his “office”--a one-car garage donated to the athletic department and parked near the tennis courts.

Redondo doesn’t mind that his office is the butt of a few jokes among Western Athletic Conference coaches. He’s just happy to have an office.

Three year’s ago, the men’s tennis and volleyball programs were given an ultimatum by an Aztec athletic department besieged by financial woes: Come up with your own funding or be eliminated.

Last season, Redondo and the Aztec Athletic Foundation raised $30,000 to keep the tennis program alive. This season, Redondo needs $35,000.

He received $9,000 from the SDSU athletic department when the football team, after winning the conference championship, made an appearance in the Holiday Bowl. He is currently $7,000 short of the money he needs.

Redondo believes he has his best team since he started coaching at SDSU in 1979.

If the Aztecs (15-7) sweep their final two matches--at home against Texas El Paso March 19 and Utah March 24--they would be guaranteed the top seed in the conference championships, April 27-May 2 at Albuquerque, N.M. SDSU has never won the conference title.

Because of the financial situation, Redondo has only one player on scholarship--No. 1 singles player Julio Noriega, a junior from Peru. But such non-scholarship players as senior Donny Young, who has won 11 of his last 12 matches, have helped the Aztecs to one of their best starts ever.

Redondo said his team would be stronger if it had not lost freshman Woody Yocum for the season.

Yocum, one of the top high school players in San Diego at Monte Vista, did not lose a Grossmont League match in four years and reached the final of the section championships his senior season. But while working for a construction company, Yocum fell nearly two stories and broke his collarbone just before the start of the season.

“I want to be the first team in school history to win a WAC title with one scholarship,” Redondo said. “I know even if we win the WAC, I’ll have to go out and raise money.”

The San Diego State women’s tennis team remained No. 8 in the nation and Aztec Monique Javer held on to her No. 1 singles ranking in the latest ITCA-Head poll. The Aztecs (6-7 overall) with their defeats coming against Top 20 teams, including six ranked above them.

SDSU plays host to second-ranked Stanford March 24, and Javer (17-2) will try to avenge a loss to Patty Fendick.

The United States International University women’s tennis team is ranked No. 17.

The UC San Diego men’s swimming team will compete in the NCAA Division III championships, beginning Thurday at Canton, Ohio.

The Tritons have qualified the maximum number of swimmers (18) and will try to defeat No. 1-ranked Kenyon College, the defending national champion. UCSD is ranked No. 2.

The UCSD women’s team finished third for the second straight season in the NCAA Division III championships at Canton last weekend.

The UC San Diego men’s golf team is ranked No. 2 among Division III teams. The Tritons have finished second in the nation the past two seasons. Cal State Stanislaus is ranked No. 1 and has won 9 of the last 11 NCAA Division III titles.

The Triton baseball team was ranked No. 10 among Division III teams in a preseason poll by Baseball America. UCSD (12-8) defeated No. 8-ranked Stanislaus, 18-0, Feb. 21.

Two SDSU women’s volleyball players are listed among Volleyball Monthly’s top 50 high school recruits. Stacey Anderson, a 6-foot setter from San Gabriel, is ranked No. 30, and Julie Thorsland, a 5-9 outside hitter from Kent, Wash., is No. 44.

Traci Hughes, a 5-9 outside hitter from 1-A Francis Parker, is the only San Diego Section player listed. She is rated No. 43.