The Tennessee Ice Vols suffered a tough defeat in the opening round of the ACHA Division III hockey tournament Wednesday morning, falling to San Diego State 5-3.

The Ice Vols, seeded third in the South region, never led in a very closely contested game. Kolin Ozonian and Alec Nadelle scored in the first period to give the Aztecs an early lead.

Tennessee got on the scoreboard as Kevin Jones scored on a breakaway goal off a pass from Amin Elaguizy. Tommy Morgan scored on an assist from Joe Williams less than a minute later to pull the Ice Vols even.

Ozonian scored again in period two on a short-handed goal to retake the lead for the Aztecs. However, Tennessee captain Jon Benner responded quickly with a goal on the same powerplay.

The Aztecs provided the game-winner later in the second period and secured the victory in the third when Tennessee goalie Kelsey McLean got tied up with his own player behind the net, giving the Aztecs an easy fifth goal.

The Vols had chances to score in the second and third periods. However, those chances were cut short as Aztec goalie Jacob Kalmonson appeared to knock the goal off its poles several times during Vol scoring situations.

Kalmonson was also involved in a controversial incident earlier in the match when he kicked at Williams after a play was over and Williams was still on the ground.

The Vols drop into the consolation bracket with the loss and will play the loser of the Hope and Fairfield game at 10:30 Thursday morning. The best the Ice Vols can hope for is now a ninth-place overall in the 16-team tournament.