SDSU Team Rallies to Advance in Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles : Tennis: Belloli and Numbers stumble early against pair from Stanford, but strong second set carries them into tournament semifinals.
The San Diego State men’s tennis team doesn’t have top-ranked Stanford on its schedule this season, so Saturday’s two encounters at the Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles tournament provided the Aztecs a rare opportunity to play the elite of collegiate tennis.
Jeff Belloli and Chris Numbers almost let their opportunity slip away by being overeager, but the Aztecs’ top doubles team recovered from a one-set deficit to defeat Stanford’s No. 3 team of Jason Yee and Vimal Patel, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.
Their victory gives them a shot at Stanford’s No. 1 team of Chris Cocotos and Alex O’Brien, in today’s semifinals at 10:30 a.m. Cocotos and O’Brien, the tournament’s No. 2 seed, struggled by SDSU’s Joe McDonough and Kerry Safdie, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, in another quarterfinal on an adjoining court.
“The whole Stanford mystique can sometimes affect you, but once you realize you’re as good as they are, you settle down and start playing your game,” Belloli said.
Numbers said the Stanford mystique also helped fuel the tempers during the match.
“(Yee) hit me in the first set and he didn’t say anything,” Numbers said. “After that, I was thinking that the next overhead was going right at his chest.”
Numbers didn’t hit Yee in the chest, but he did get him in the legs a couple times.
“We’re friends off the court, but on the court, it got pretty competitive during the match,” Numbers said.
Belloli and Numbers’ games appeared to pick up with the intensity level. The more menacing glances and disputed calls, the more winners Numbers and Belloli’s racquets produced.
After falling behind 3-2 in the second set, Belloli and Numbers went on to win 10 of the last 14 games.
“I think it took us a while to get used to the wind and the surroundings,” Belloli said. “Once we did that, we took our game up a notch.”
Since they started playing together last fall, Belloli and Numbers have only been beaten twice in 17 matches. Both defeats came to Cal’s Matt Lucena and Tom Phanco, who reached the semifinals Saturday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Julio Noriega and Michael Roberts of Beverly Hills.
“Our games just seemed to click,” Numbers said. “He’s strong and I’m quick. You don’t want two players with the same games playing together.”
Belloli meshed well last year with Dax Peterson--reaching the NCAA doubles quarterfinals. SDSU Coach Hugh Bream said he sees similar things on the horizon for Belloli and Numbers.
“When they’re playing their game, they’re as good as anybody in the country,” Bream said.
Lucena and Phanco will play USC’s Jonathon Leach and Brian McPhie in the other semifinal. The finals are scheduled for 1:30.