ASU Men’s Tennis: Sun Devils draw positives from two top-10 losses

Photo: Alex Roddier/WCSN

(Photo: Alex Roddier/WCSN)

A week after breaking into the Oracle/ITA team rankings, No. 35 Arizona State traveled to Texas for a three-match weekend (a doubleheader on Friday and one on Sunday), with two matches coming against opponents ranked in the top-10.

The result: a win over Incarnate Word (8-5 overall) and two hard fought losses against No. 6 Baylor (17-2) and No. 10 TCU (14-3).

The Sun Devils (7-10) only participated in a singles-first, clinch-clinch match against UIW for the sake of the doubleheader and pace of play. If the match was tied at the end of singles play, the doubles point would have been played to seal the contest. ASU inevitably swept it in four singles matches, needing less than a hour-and-a-half to take home a victory.

“I thought we were sharp today and we did what we needed to do to get the job done,” ASU coach Matt Hill said after the victory. “We have a lot of tennis to play today so I was really happy that we played some clean matches.”

ASU junior No. 55 Nathan Ponwith clinched the match for the Sun Devils with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Cardinals’ number one in singles. It was his second match-clinching victory on the season. In the victory, both sophomore Andrea Bolla and junior Makey Rakotomalala achieved wins to break their two-match losing streaks.

“[Ponwith] had a little bit of a slow start and then he really dialed it in and got back to the tennis we’ve been seeing him play,” Hill said. “His opponent was a really tough player, but once Nathan is locked in, he’s tough for anyone to beat.”

After the victory the Sun Devils then had to prepare for No. 6 Baylor, which it took on in the second match of the doubleheader. When it came time for doubles play, the team started off just the way Hill would have hoped.

ASU’s junior doubles pair and No. 18 Dominik Kellovsky and Ponwith took down the top-ranked tandem in the country in No. 1 Jimmy Bendeck (senior) and Sven Lah (sophomore) 6-3.

The victory marked the duos seventh of the season when paired together.

“Dom and Nate played extremely well in doubles because they played aggressive and took charge of what was happening on the court,” Hill said, “and that’s how you beat these kinds of teams. Our guys have the talent to be able to collect points off guys at Baylor’s level, and I thought they did a great job of that in this match.”

Despite ASU capturing the doubles point (the No. 56 pairing of Bolla and sophomore Tim Ruehl clinched it), Baylor jumped out to a 3-1 lead with two straight singles victories. ASU graduate transfer Justin Roberts won his individual match to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Bears clinched the match 4-2. Both teams decided to play out the remaining match, which saw Ruehl fall to his opponent and the lead extend to 5-2.

“We’ve got to do a better job in singles of competing on all courts if we want to win these matches,” Hill said. “We’re still learning that. All these top teams are teaching us that time and time again that we have to be much more mentally resilient and our focus has to be so much better on every single point.”

Perhaps the hardest pill to swallow on the weekend for ASU was its matchup with No. 1o Texas Christian, a team the Sun Devils already faced this season on day one of the inaugural Tempe Collegiate Classic before the regular season began.

For the fourth time this season the match went to a deciding singles tied at three-apiece and ASU could not capitalize on the opportunity. Ruehl dropped the decider to freshman Luc Fomba, and ASU lost the match 4-3.

While the Sun Devils may not have been victorious, there were some positive takeaways from the match.

Roberts recorded his fifth straight singles win of the season (also going undefeated on the weekend) with a three-set victory over TCU’s senior Reese Stalder. The win gave Roberts his team-leading seventh on the year in dual match play.

ASU is set to return to its home state this week for a “road” matchup with hometown rival University of Arizona on Mar. 30 at 1 p.m. MST, followed by a three-match home stand in the following two weeks.

Match Results

ASU vs. Incarnate Word (4-0 win)

Singles

No. 55 Nathan Ponwith (ASU) def. Sebastian Mortier (UIW) – 6-4, 6-2*
Justin Roberts (ASU) def. Paco Bendana (UIW) – 6-0, 6-1
Andrea Bolla (ASU) def. Gabriel Evans (UIW) – 6-1, 6-0
Tim Ruehl (ASU) vs. Caleb Dyer (UIW) – 6-4, 4-1 (susp.)
Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) def. Zach Vanderheiden (UIW) – 6-3, 6-1
William Kirkman (ASU) vs. Dennis Boisseau (UIW) – 2-6, 4-5 (susp.)

Order of finish: 3, 2, 5, 1*, (4, 6 susp.)

*Clinched victory

ASU vs. No. 6 Baylor (5-2 loss)

Doubles

No. 18 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith (ASU) def. No. 1 Jimmy Bendeck/Sven Lah (BU) – 6-3
No. 56 Tim Ruehl/William Kirkman (ASU) def. Matias Soto/Will Little (BU) – 7-5^
Constantin Frantzen/Johannes Schretter (BU) def. Justin Roberts/Benjamin Hannestad (ASU)– 6-2

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2^

^Clinched doubles point

Singles

No. 40 Johannes Schretter (BU) def. No. 55 Nathan Ponwith (ASU) – 7-6(3), 6-3*
Matias Soto (BU) def. Dominik Kellovsky (ASU) – 6-2, 6-3
Justin Roberts (ASU) def. No. 82 Will Little (BU) – 7-5, 6-1
Adrian Boitran (BU) def. Andrea Bolla (ASU) – 6-1, 6-1
Sven Lah (BU) def. Tim Ruehl (ASU) – 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Jimmy Bendeck (BU) def. Benjamin Hannestad (ASU) – 6-3, 6-2

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

*Clinched victory

ASU vs. No. 10 TCU (4-3 loss)

Doubles

No. 18 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith (ASU) vs. No. 6 Bertus Kruger/Reese Stalder (TCU) – 6-6 (susp.)
Justin Roberts/Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) def. Alastair Gray/Alex Rybakov (TCU) – 6-4
No. 56 Tim Ruehl/Andrea Bolla (ASU) def. Luc Fomba/Sander Jong (TCU) – 6-2^

Order of finish: 2, 3^, 1 (susp.)

^Clinched doubles point

Singles