Photo: (Mason Kern/WCSN)
The Arizona State men’s tennis team heads to Southern California this weekend for their first road matches of the season against the University of San Diego and Pepperdine University.
The Sun Devils are coming off what seems like their best performance of this season in their three matches in the ASU Invitational. They defeated Loyola Marymount, Fresno State and Cal Poly last weekend to improve their record to 3-3 on the season. None of those matches were particularly close, with ASU’s 4-2 victory over LMU, the closest of their three wins.
Against Cal Poly, ASU finally secured the doubles point that had been alluding them so far this season. The team hadn’t clinched a doubles point in their four other opportunities.
“It was a great feeling to win a doubles point,” freshman captain Benjamin Hannestad said at practice on Thursday. “We actually played really good doubles that day, the kind of doubles we actually have been playing in practice, so it was nice to execute (in a real match).”
The Sun Devils start off this weekend with a tough match against the University of San Diego on Saturday at 12:00 PM MST. The Toreros, who received votes for the most recent ITA top-25, come into the match at 3-1 on the season. Their wins include a 4-3 defeat of No. 10 TCU on Jan. 27. ASU lost to TCU 5-2 on Jan. 21.
ASU head coach Matt Hill explained how he has prepared his team for such a tough match at practice on Thursday.
“We keep doing what we think the guys need in progression for their own particular games,” Hill said. “We also get scouting reports on San Diego from some other coaches. We’ve seen some of (San Diego’s) players at the regional tournament in the fall. We know a couple of their guys personally.”
ASU’s second match of the weekend is on Sunday against the Pepperdine Waves at 3:00 PM MST. The Waves’ record stands at 1-5 on the season. They come into the match against ASU with just one point in their last three matches.
Injuries have been a bit of a concern for the Sun Devils this season as freshman Tim Ruehl has been dealing with a foot injury and sophomore Makey Rakotomalala has been dealing with a shoulder injury.
However, Ruehl said at practice on Thursday that the whole team is all feeling well physically and is set to go for their first weekend on the road since 2008.
