(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)
No. 28 Arizona State will square off with No. 33 California in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament in Ojai, California on Thursday. It is a matchup between the fourth and fifth seeds and the Sun Devils will have the opportunity to pull off the upset as they are the lower of the two heading into the match. This will be the third matchup between the two sides this year and the winner will clinch the season series.
“We’re in match rhythm right now because we’ve been playing a lot and liking what we’re seeing on the courts,” ASU coach Matt Hill said. “The guys are in good shape and are physically and mentally ready.”
Coming off a pair of 4-2 losses in Southern California to No. 13 UCLA and No. 8 USC, ASU (13-12, 4-4 Pac-12) hopes to get back on track against a familiar opponent in the Golden Bears and advance in the tournament. In its first season since reinstatement from a 10-year hiatus last season, ASU was swept in the first round of Pac-12s by USC.
In its first meeting against the Golden Bears back on March 9, ASU raced to a quick 2-0 start before Cal (12-11, 4-4) stormed back, winning each of the next four singles matches en route to a 4-2 victory on its home court in Berkeley.
The second matchup took place on the last day of the Oracle Collegiate Challenge on a neutral site in Indian Wells, California, on March 17. In comeback fashion ASU turned the tide on the Golden Bears. After falling into a 3-1 deficit, the Sun Devils rallied back to win 4-3 courtesy of a match-clincher by sophomore Tim Ruehl.
“Having played Cal twice already is definitely a good thing because we do pride ourselves on being well-prepared for matches,” Hill said. “We tape every match that we play, so we have two sets of film on them which is always a good thing because we’ll use it to be as prepared as possible for the match.”
This upcoming contest will give ASU a chance to clinch the season series against the Golden Bears and bolster its NCAA Tournament resume with a victory over another ranked opponent. ASU faced 16 teams ranked by the Oracle/ITA this season, which included six of the current top-10: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 4 Wake Forest, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 7 TCU, No. 8 Baylor and No. 10 USC.
One area that has been a consistent threat all year for the Sun Devils has been their stellar play in doubles. On Thursday, ASU will try to exploit that strength and win their 11th consecutive doubles point. IN the two previous matchups against Cal, ASU jumped out to the 1-0 advantage.
ASU’s No. 12 doubles pairing of juniors Dominik Kellovsky and Nathan Ponwith will seek to avenge their 6-3 loss at the hands of Cal’s No. 31 tandem of freshman Yuta Kikuchi and sophomore Jacob Brumm back at Indian Wells. Elsewhere, the Sun Devils’ tandem of junior Makey Rakotomalala and graduate student Justin Roberts entered the rankings fro the first time as a pair this week, climbing to No. 77.
In singles — besides the continued form of No. 74 Ponwith — a bright spot for the Sun Devils lately has been the recent play of sophomore Andrea Bolla, who enters Thursday on a five-match winning streak including straight set victories at UCLA and USC.
“Andrea is a really hard worker on the training court,” Hill said, “so it’s great to see that hard work paying off. He’s continuing to learn about himself as a player and his game, and I feel like he’s really figuring that out for the first time. We believe he can be by far one of the best players in college tennis, so it’s great to see him on that path.”
ASU is better poised this season to make a deeper tournament run because of the influx of experience that they inherited from the three transfers brought on to start the year, as well as the tournament experiences the returning players have from last season. That experience should bode well as the team looks to make a bigger impact in a tough Pac-12 conference.
ASu faces Cal on Thursday at 9 a.m. MST. The winner will face the victor of UCLA and Utah/Oregon the following day at 1 p.m. MST. Streams of the tournament can be found on Pac-12 Network.
