PALO ALTO, Calif. - Junior Michael Pereira and sophomore Ryan Ybarra each won in singles and teamed up to win at No. doubles as No. 57 UNC Wilmington knocked off No. 44 San Diego State, 5-2, in men's tennis action at the ITA Division I Kick-Off Weekend on Saturday at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

         The Seahawks improved to 2-1 on the young season with the win over the Aztecs. SDSU, meanwhile, dropped to 0-3 to start the season.

         "I'm really pleased with how our team responded after a tough loss yesterday to Stanford," said third-year UNCW head coach Mait Dubois. "San Diego State is a very solid team and we took a stride from that experience. We won 3-of-4 in three-setters and really came up big in key situations."

         UNCW took the early lead by winning the doubles point as Pereira and Ybarra topped SDSU's Achim Ceban and Juan Gomez, 8-5. In the second doubles position, freshman Max Ando Hirsch and junior Kinshuk Sharma, ranked 58^th in the nation, delivered the doubles point with an 8-6 win over Luis Rattenhuber and Giovanni Vaglietti.

         The two teams split the first two singles matches, with Rattenhuber taking a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Hirsh before freshman Kosta Blank drew UNCW even with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Tim Schulz van Endert.

         Gomez, ranked 114th nationally, rallied in the third set to take the point from Sharma as SDSU built a 2-1 lead. That lead would be short-lived as Ybarra won in the fourth position and junior Illia Ziamtsou and Pereira posted wins in the second and first position to close out the match.

         The Seahawks are idle until Feb. 6 when they entertain Elon in a 2 p.m. match.