(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)
With Pac-12 play heating up, No. 32 Arizona State heads into a critical home weekend of the season playing some of its best tennis to this point in the year.
“We always love being home and playing in front of our home crowd,” coach Matt Hill said. “Having four matches in one week is exciting and it’s a big week for us.”
The Sun Devils (9-10, 1-2 Pac-12) hope to build on a pair of impressive victories within the past week. It included an emotional 4-2 victory in the Territorial Cup Series last weekend against then-No. 25 Arizona and a resounding 7-0 sweep over Delaware on Tuesday.
Against the Blue Hens, all facets were working well for ASU. In addition to clinching its 13th doubles point of the year, the Sun Devils also won every singles match in straight sets.
The Sun Devils’ dominance in doubles has been a strength all year for Hill’s team as they have gone 13-6 in that portion and have won the point in six straight matches.
The main catalyst for the team’s success in that area has been the junior tandem of Nathan Ponwith and Dominik Kellovsky. The pair jumped from No. 18 to the top-10 at No. 9 in the April 2 edition of the Oracle/ITA rankings. They are the highest ranked ASU doubles tandem since Brian Gyetko and Dave Lomicky in 1991, who ended their season at No. 4.
“Me and Dominik have been having a great season,” Ponwith said after Tuesday’s victory. “We’ve had a bunch of really great wins … it’s great to play good doubles and have momentum going into singles each match.”
The Sun Devils’ recent uptick in play can be attributed, in part, to players getting healthy after being limited for large stretches throughout this year. Sophomore Thomas Wright got back on the court for the first time since Nov. against Delaware on Tuesday, winning an exhibition match. Both programs had enough bodies to play these exhibition matches, so an extra doubles and two extra singles matches were played for additional reps.
Like Wright, sophomore Benjamin Hannestad, who has fluctuated throughout the lineup with injuries this season was back healthy on Tuesday. Playing on court five, Hannestad claimed a straight set 6-1, 6-1 victory and is starting to get back in the groove.
“It’s been a rough year for sure,” Hannestad said. “I’ve been through some surgeries so it’s been up-and-down physically for me, but I’m getting stronger, I’m getting healthier and I’m doing better on the court. I feel like I’m progressing every day.”
“Having Ben back in the lineup is huge because he’s an incredible player,” Hill said. “When he was banged up, he wasn’t even getting reps in training, so he wasn’t able to move forward and it was frustrating for him and us. We’re super happy to have him healthy and playing full matches.”
ASU’s first weekend test will be on Friday evening against No. 42 Oregon (13-3). It will be desperate for a victory after succumbing to a two-match losing streak with a 4-3 loss to UC Santa Barbara and 4-2 defeat against Utah in Eugene this past week.
The Ducks possess one of the best singles players in college tennis in No. 8 Thomas Laurent, who has been a Pac-12 First-Team selection in each of his last two years and will be in serious contention for Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year this season.
“We know Thomas is one of the best players in college tennis,” Hill said. “Every match in the Pac-12 is brutal. There are no off days this year.”
After a matchup with a tough Oregon team on Friday, the Sun Devils will host a doubleheader on Sunday. First, ASU welcomes a Pac-12 opponent in Washington (6-11) at 12 p.m. and then plays an evening match against in-state foe Grand Canyon (15-5) at 6 p.m.
Despite Washington’s subpar record, it is a team that ASU cannot afford to look past, as it comes to Tempe fresh off an impressive 4-2 victory over Pac-12 opponent Utah, a team that a ranked Oregon squad lost to this past week.
“Washington has a young team this year,” Hill said, “but they’re always super competitive. They have good, consistent depth all throughout the lineup and while they may not have gotten the results they wanted this year, we know how dangerous they are.”
In ASU’s final match of the weekend it has the opportunity to move to 30-0 all-time against GCU. Although not typically a tennis powerhouse, the Lopes have put together an impressive season and currently maintain a seven-match winning streak.
“They have a very good team because [coach Greg Prudhomme] has done a very good job there and that isn’t easy,” Hill said. “They’ve played some tough matches against some really good teams.”
With the majority of its remaining schedule away from Tempe, it is pivotal that ASU takes advantage of these three tough, but winnable, home matches if it hopes to reach the NCAA Championships for the second straight year.
