ASU Men’s Tennis: A rise in the rankings, but the road gets tougher

Photo: Alex Roddier/WCSN

(Photo: Alex Roddier/WCSN)

Arizona State entered the Oracle/ ITA Rankings for the first time since January in the most recent update on Tuesday, checking in at No. 35.

Although the latest rankings do not mark the first time the Sun Devils find their name on the leaderboard (they were previously ranked No. 24 in January), this new No. 35 placement spawns midway through the season at a point where ASU looks to trench through the ups and downs of a road-heavy schedule.

The rise in the rankings came merely a couple of days after ASU defeated No. 13 Michigan 4-2 and then-No. 31 California 4-3 at the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge in Indian Wells, California last weekend. ASU lost in the semifinals of that tournament to conference foe and then-No. 16 USC.

ASU is one of the seven teams in the Pac-12 that is ranked in the top-50 (only nine Pac-12 schools have tennis programs). No. 7 Stanford, No. 15 USC and No. 17 UCLA represent the conference schools featured in the top-20.

Six of ASU’s remaining eight opponents place inside the latest top-50 rankings. The Sun Devils kick off this increasingly difficult part of their schedule with a tough weekend slate on the road in Texas against No. 6 Baylor and No. 10 TCU. The team also just added an additional match to the weekend, a morning competition against Incarnate Word on Friday, making it a double-header.

Doubles Delight

While the boost in the team’s overall ranking is comforting, this week’s update also included two of ASU’s doubles tandems in the top-60 after commanding performances in March.

After soaring up 31 spots, the No. 18 pairing of juniors Dominik Kellovsky and Nathan Ponwith are the highest ranked Sun Devils’ tandem. The duo has an overall record of 7-3-1, with their best win coming on the road against California’s then-No.33 sophomore tandem of Paul Barretto and Can Kaya. That is their only win this season against a ranked opponent in doubles play.

No. 56 sophomores Andrea Bolla and Tim Ruehl round out the rankings in doubles for ASU after dropping 38 spots. The Italian-German pair own a 2-1-4 record when playing with each other, typically on court three.

ASU’s duo of junior Makey Rakotomalala and graduate transfer Justin Roberts fell out of the rankings after being No. 55 in the previous update.

Single Success

Not only did Ponwith rise in the doubles rankings, but the Scottsdale native also made an impressive rise (19 spots) in the singles rankings to No. 55.

Ponwith has defeated three of his seven nationally ranked opponents this season, collecting an overall 6-6-1 record in his individual play. He is also on a hot streak having defeated six of his last eight opponents. Last weekend he also notably hit the threshold of 50 career wins stemming between his time at Georgia and ASU.

The junior held a critical role in ASU’s come-from-behind win over Cal on St. Patrick’s Day with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win to keep the Sun Devils’ hopes alive. His point tied the match at 3-3, and allowed Ruehl to clinch the victory for the Sun Devils.

Looking to climb higher in the leaderboards, ASU heads to the Lone Star State this weekend to square off against Incarnate Word and No. 6 Baylor in a Friday doubleheader before closing out the weekend against No. 10 TCU on Sunday at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth.