ASU Men’s Tennis: Short road trip sends Sun Devils back to Tempe empty handed

(Photo: Alex Roddier/WCSN)

Dealing with a 12-day period between its last matches and unusual weather patterns disrupting its normal training routine, Arizona State traveled to College Station to take on a Texas A&M team that defeated the Sun Devils a season ago. This year’s Aggies roster featured some new faces, as did the Sun Devils’, but the final result remained the same.

ASU (3-5 non-conference) was overpowered 5-2 by Texas A&M (4-3) at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Facility at Baylor University. Rain forced the match to be moved to the indoor courts at Baylor’s facility rather than the Aggies’ outdoor variety in College Station.

Texas A&M clinched the match leading 4-1, but both programs decided to continue playing out the remaining singles matches; resulting in a 5-2 final score.

“You’re going to have days where you’re not playing that well,” ASU coach Matt Hill said. “We have to be able to turn those days into some level of performance that can get us across the finish line.”

Despite strong doubles play throughout this season, maintaining a 6-2 record on the year in clinching the first point, the Aggies were able to prevail and outlast ASU’s push. ASU’s tandem of junior Makey Rakotomalala and graduate transfer Justin Roberts took a victory on court two, but the Aggies were victorious on the other courts to take a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.

“I didn’t think [Rakotomalala and Roberts] played particularly well in doubles,” Hill said, “but I thought they competed really well. And we were able to take (a win from) what I would say probably was an average performance at best from them.”

The Aggies then sent out four ranked Oracle/ITA singles players across the six courts, compared to ASU’s one (Justin Roberts). Rakotomalala gave the Sun Devils life early on, quickly defeating his opponent in straight sets to even the match at 1-1.

“He’s playing really well right now,” Hill said. “He’s really improved some key areas that are allowing him to play his game more often, and you’re seeing that in the results. He competed really well, he was emotionally and mentally there point-to-point and he beat a good player.

“For [Rakotomalala] to really take the guy apart, it just goes to show how well he’s playing and how much confidence he has in how he’s playing and what he’s trying to do out there on the court. It’s fantastic to see.”

After the match was clinched with a court one victory for the Aggies in the third set, ASU was able to scrape another point with junior Nathan Ponwith’s singles victory over the Aggies’ highest ranked opponent, No. 47 junior Valentin Vacherot, on court three.

“It was great to see Nathan pull that out,” Hill said. “He’s had some really close ones … so it was great to see him get this one tonight. It was also great to see some of the things he’s working on in his game.”

ASU returns to Tempe for its second homestand of the season against No. 41 San Diego on Sunday. The Toreros are another familiar foe from last year, as the Sun Devils defeated them on the road 4-3. Sunday’s match is set for 2:00 p.m. MST.

Match Results:

ASU vs. Texas A&M (5-2 Loss)

Doubles

1. Juan Carlos Aguilar/Barnaby Smith (A&M) def. No. 51 Nathan Ponwith/Dominik Kellovsky (ASU) – 6-3^
2. Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts (ASU) def. Hady Habib/Noah Schachter – 6-4
3. Valentin Vacherot/Austin Abbrat (A&M) def. Benjamin Hannestad/Andrea Bolla (ASU) – 6-3

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1^

^Clinched doubles point

Singles

1. No. 121 Juan Carlos Aguilar (A&M) def. Dominik Kellovsky (ASU) – 6-0, 1-6, 6-2*
2. Hady Habib (A&M) def. Andrea Bolla (ASU) – 6-0, 7-6 (7-5)
3. Nathan Ponwith (ASU) def. No. 47 Valentin Vacherot (A&M) – 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 1-0 (10-8)
4. No. 66 Barnaby Smith (A&M) def. No. 97 Justin Roberts (ASU) – 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-2)
5. Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) def. No. 105 Austin Abbrat (A&M) – 6-1, 6-0
6. Noah Schachter (A&M) def. William Kirkman (ASU) 6-1, 6-1

Order of finish: 5, 6, 2, 1*, 4, 3

*Clinched victory

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