ASU Men’s Tennis: High expectations as Territorial Cup at stake in pivotal match against Arizona

(Photo: Marie Obsuna/Sun Devil Athletics)

In its last match of the regular season before the Pac-12 tournament, the Arizona State men’s tennis team faces none other than its bitter rival; the University of Arizona.

Arizona makes the trek up from Tucson to Tempe to face the Sun Devils at the Whiteman Tennis Center this coming Saturday at 1:00 p.m. MST.

“We didn’t play UofA before, but I’ve heard a lot of stories about it,” senior captain Michaël Geerts said Wednesday. “We can see how hyped up (the rivalry) gets and how intense it is. We’re just going to try and translate the same hype and passion on the court on Saturday. Hopefully there will be a good crowd and it should be fun.”

No. 34 ASU (13-9; 2-4 in Pac-12 play) takes on a conference rival opponent in UofA (15-13; 0-7 in Pac-12 play) that is still in search of its first Pac-12 win of the season. Both teams are coming off weekend losses to the No. 16 USC Trojans and No. 2 UCLA Bruins. The Sun Devils lost 4-1, 4-2 respectively; while the Wildcats were shut out 4-0 in both matches.

The unranked Wildcats maintain a five-match losing streak. Their last win came on Mar. 24 in a 4-2 victory over New Mexico State.

The Sun Devils are excited to feel the energy and excitement that comes with facing their arch-rival. As this season has been the team’s first back since 2008, none of the players truly understand the rivalry between ASU and UofA. That has not stopped them from preparing and training for what is set to be one of the most important matches of the season–at least in the fans’ eyes.

“A lot of us are Europeans so we don’t really know what the rivalry means,” ASU freshman captain Benjamin Hannestad said. “We want to feel the rivalry because we haven’t really been in it yet, we’ve only been from the outside spectating it.”

It has been an up-and-down year for the Sun Devils in their first season back since disbanding for financial reasons. They took on three Oracle/ITA Top-25 opponents to start the season in Duke, Texas A&M and TCU and fell to a 0-3 record. The schedule eased up a bit as they went on an eight-match winning streak that also saw a tournament victory at the 70^th annual Blue Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala. In that timespan, the Sun Devils’ ranking rose to a season-high 13^th in the country.

“We know (Arizona) is going to be excited to play,” ASU head coach Matt Hill said. “They’re fighting to try and get into the (NCAA) tournament. Anytime you’re playing a team that’s kind of on the edge like that you’re going to get their best, and obviously the rivalry is going to bring out their best as well.

“I think for us it’s two-fold trying not to get too emotional and get into that battle where we’re not thinking clearly or staying composed; and then kind of just allowing our tennis to kind of speak for itself. We have some great players in this group and if they stay composed and they play intellectually like we ask them to do we feel good about the result.”

The Pac-12 boasts some of the best teams in the country, and conference play has been rough for the Sun Devils as they sit two matches below .500. In this last match of the regular season before they travel to Ojai, Calif. for the Pac-12 tournament, a victory would add some confidence and morale to a team that already believes its better than its overall record reflects.

This match means more than just the Territorial Cup. More than the rivalry between ASU and UofA. This match could potentially get a run started as the Sun Devils head into the Pac-12 Tournament and, inevitably, the NCAA Tournament.

“Our focus has always been on the championships at the end of the year both the conference and the national,” Hill said. “This is a massive piece of the puzzle for us. Anytime we play Arizona in anything we want to take care of business there and see progress in the things that we’re working on so we continue to move toward our goal of doing well in the championships at the end of the year.”

Although the Sun Devils went 0-2 this past weekend, they played two of the best teams in the country, and certainly in their  conference. Their overall team ranking only dropped one slot as a result.

Individually, Geerts defeated the No. 1 collegiate tennis player in the country in UCLA’s senior Martin Redlicki in straight sets on Friday. He also faced then-ranked No. 13 Brandon Holt from USC and that match went unfinished. As a result, Geerts rose to No. 20 in the nation–achieving a season-high ranking. Hannestad finds himself at No. 76 in the updated rankings as of April 17^th.

ASU also stole the doubles point against UCLA, winning two of the three matches. Both ASU victories came by a final score of  6-4. Sophomore Makey Rakotomalala and freshman Andrea Bolla defeated the No. 11 duo of senior Austin Rapp and freshman Keegan Smith. Later, ASU clinched after Geerts and freshman Tim Ruehl defeated the No. 59 pairing of Redlicki and sophomore Evan Zhu.

Rakotomalala and Bolla now find themselves at No. 45 in the updated Oracle/ITA doubles rankings.

UofA is without a team, singles or doubles ranking as the team heads into the match against ASU. However, their doubles pairing of sophomore Alejandro Reguant and junior Jonas Maier also defeated the No. 11 UCLA pair of Rapp and Smith by a score of 6-3.

The Sun Devils look to build upon the positives and negatives from their past two losses as they are set to take on a Wildcats team that has seemingly struggled to find its identity.

“It sounds like a really exciting weekend,” ASU freshman William Kirkman said. “We try as best as we can to win every match we play, but this one is going to be special. It’s going to get really loud out there. They want to beat us just as much as we want to beat them, so we’ll see what happens. Hopefully we come out on top.”

For ASU, the past weekend matchups against the Bruins and Trojans present box scores that may be misleading. ASU has faced some of the top opponents in the country such as UCLA, Ohio State and Stanford. Each of these matches resulted in losses, but the margins have been “razor thin” according to Hill.

ASU freshman Tim Ruehl–who the team has fondly given the nickname ‘Tiger’– had a productive weekend as both of his matches went unfinished. Ruehl boasts a 14-7 record in singles play on the season. Both of his singles matches went into three sets. His match against UCLA was notably against the senior No. 87 Logan Staggs.

“I haven’t had too many losses,” Ruehl said with a smile after a Wednesday ASU practice. “I think it’s been a pretty good season for me. and I’m ready for more. Of course (Arizona) is a special match. We are really looking forward to playing them.”

Although the Sun Devils are essentially a lock for the postseason championships, their conference record does not reflect the level of talent that their roster possesses. There have been some bumps in the road, but that is to be expected of a bunch of individual foreign tennis players who were brought together to play team tennis in potentially the best conference in the US.

The Sun Devils’ season as a whole will come into culmination in the upcoming match against the Wildcats. And the result will be a thorough representation of the first season of men’s tennis back in Tempe after 10 years.

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