(Photo: Emmie Keenan/WCSN)
When juniors Nathan Ponwith and Dominik Kellovsky transferred to Arizona State for the upcoming season, neither could have predicted the partnership that they have currently developed.
In fact, they did not even know each other.
But when they arrived on campus for the start of preseason camp, they began to develop a relationship that morphed into a doubles grouping. One that has achieved a lot of success this year. So much so that the national No. 12 tandem qualified for the NCAA Doubles Tournament, the first duo to earn the honor since the program was reinstated in 2017.
“That’s a huge thing for the team, for us, for the whole program,” Kellovsky said. “It’s a new program, two years since it started and they didn’t have anyone in the tournament so far. We’re obviously glad to be there, to represent our team, ASU in general. It means a lot. We’re going to hopefully get a great result and we’re going to show that ASU is also part of the best teams up there.”
Prior to officially being selected, Ponwith reflected on the season he has shared with his partner and the hopes and expectations they would have going into the tournament if selected.
“Hopefully it happens,” he said. “It would be really exciting for me and Dominik and I think (coach) Matt (Hill) and the coaches would be proud of us. Just to play for the Sun Devils in an individual tournament would be great. I think we’d have high expectations going in, we know we can play against anybody in the country. We just want to bring our best tennis in and give us the best shot to go far in the tournament.”
The duo reached as high as No. 8 in the Oracle/ITA rankings this season. It marked the highest ranked ASU tandem since Brian Gyetko and Dave Lomicky ended their season at No. 4 in 1991. Ponwith and Kellovsky will represent ASU as one of 19 at-large selections made by the NCAA. 32 doubles teams will compete in the tournament in total.
“It’s awesome (to qualify),” Ponwith said. “We’ve played well together all year. It was exciting to have a new player to be teamed up with. I’m excited, it’s going to be awesome.”
Ponwith and Kellovsky finished the regular season with a 12-6 overall doubles record together. Their highlight victory of the season came in a match against No. 6 Baylor in which the duo defeated the national No.1 pairing of senior Jimmy Bendeck and sophomore Sven Lah 6-3.
Their lowlight however came at an inopportune time. In the team’s last match — the first round of the Pac-12 tournament against No. 33 California — No. 28 ASU’s court one doubles duo was swept 6-0 by the Golden Bears’ No. 31 tandem of sophomore Jacob Brumm and freshman Yukita Kikuchi.
“That definitely was not our best performance,” Ponwith said. “We’re definitely looking to change that and do the best we can in the matches this weekend (in the first round NCAA Tournament) to help the team out and get the doubles point.”
Kellovsky echoed the sentiment.
“I think that was our worst match all season,” he said. “That obviously can happen. It’s sport, it’s game and not every time you’re going to have luck on your side. Not every time you’re playing your best tennis and there are going to be some matches in your career or in the season when you’re not going to do your best.
“It was really hard to lose the set the way we lost it. I don’t think that we would have two really bad matches in a row. We had so many great wins, so many great matches which we won. It wouldn’t be really smart to think about one or two matches we played. We just need to take it how it is and don’t really think about it too much.”
Both the singles and doubles competitions will be carried out from May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, after the conclusion of the team championship which runs from May 16-19. UCF and the Greater Orlando Sports Commission will serve as hosts. Before the individual tournaments, the Sun Devils have a first round NCAA Tournament matchup with No. 32 Miami in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday at 12 p.m. MST.
