(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)
Arizona State (1-0) hosted Florida Atlantic (0-1) in its first match of the season on Thursday night in Tempe. The Sun Devils were excited to get on the court after only playing 11 matches last season. They came out strong winning the doubles point with solid performances from senior Andrea Bolla, and sophomore George Stoupe. In order to win, all the Sun Devils needed to do was split the singles matches, and while that may sound easy, it was far from it.
One standout for Arizona State was senior Nathan Ponwith, the Georgia transfer in his third year in maroon and gold. After losing his doubles match in an intense tiebreaker, Ponwith began his singles season with a win. The Scottsdale native was down 5-2 early in his first set against FAU freshman Filip Krolo, then there was a momentum shift. With the small crowd cheering him on, Ponwith caught fire and everyone could tell. The senior was hitting what seemed like every first serve, and surged back from the early deficit. Eventually, Ponwith forced a tiebreaker with the momentum he had gained. It almost seemed as if Ponwith could not be stopped on his path to victory.
“I like to call it winning ugly,” the Sun Devils senior said after the match.
For Ponwith’s sake, it was a good thing the scoreboard doesn’t care about looks. There was some extra motivation for Ponwith, as Krolo was on the doubles team that beat him in a long tiebreaker just 15 minutes prior to their match.
“There was definitely a sense of urgency… I knew I needed to get the win.”
He wasn’t the only player who had to battle, the FAU Owls liked to play long rallies and force the Sun Devils into mistakes. Stoupe looked like he was going to cruise to victory on Thursday after going up 6-2, 5-4, but freshman Finn Stodder forced a third set with a tiebreak. Stoupe made lots of unforced errors, allowing Stodder to take advantage. With both teams chanting and hollering from the sidelines, it all came down to this. However, what was supposed to be a dramatic finish proved to be rather anticlimactic and ended quickly with Stoupe regaining control and forcing Stodder into mistakes to win the third set 6-2. The team swarmed him, as the sophomore started his season with a doubles win, a singles win, and an Arizona State win 4-3.
Starting off the season with a win is important for Arizona State to set the tone. The Sun Devils will head to Austin on Sunday to face a young, but talented No. 4 ranked Texas Longhorns at 11:00 AM MST. They will most likely have to grind it out again, but the Sun Devils are not to counted out. They will get a chance to prove themselves against a nationally ranked opponent and continue their momentum they built on Thursday.
RESULTS
Doubles
#1 Ponwith/ McKennon 6-7 L
#2 Bolla/ Rakotomalala 6-3 W
#3 Stoupe/ Hoffman 6-3 W
Singles
#1 Rakotomalala 2-6, 3-6 L,
#2 Ponwith 7-6, 6-2 W,
#3 Bolla 6-2, 6-2 W,
Singles Cont.
#4 McKennon 2-6, 3-6 L
#5 Brachman 3-6, 2-6 L
#6 Stoupe 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 W
