ASU Men’s Tennis: Sun Devils singles pave the way for first win of 2018

(Photo: Patricia Vicente/WCSN)

Arizona State Men’s tennis earned its first win since of the season against Loyola Marymount University in the first match of the ASU Invitational on Friday morning by a final score of 4-2.

The win meant more to the Sun Devils than an average victory as it also was the program’s first since being disbanded in 2008 due to financial constraints.

With the LMU Lions having had plenty of preseason success, having lost only one match in their last four, the Sun Devils found themselves in the middle of a tough competition to begin the long weekend of collegiate competition.

ASU failed to clinch the doubles point early on and seemed to be playing with a sense of desperation looking for their first win since their recent reinstatement.

Two of the three matches advanced to tiebreakers, the number one teams of Charles Boyce and Lukas Moenter from LMU against Michael Geerts and Makey Rakotomalala, and, the number two doubles match of LMU’s Diego Nava and Errol Smith facing ASU’s Thomas Wright and Andrea Bolla.

Nava and Smith won their tiebreaker 7-6 to clinch the doubles point and suspending the number one doubles match that hadn’t yet concluded.

It didn’t appear the Sun Devils let losing the doubles point affect their mentality ahead of singles play. If anything, it seemed to have motivated them as they won four of the five completed singles matches.

The first singles win came from senior captain Michael Geerts who cited the two-week break in matches for ASU as a helpful factor leading up to a draining weekend of three matches in two days.

“I needed to physically get better, myself, which is what I believe helped me succeed,” said Geerts after the match. “I felt a lot better today on the courts than on the first matches and I think a lot of the guys did.”

In addition to Geerts’ singles win, sophomore Tim Reuhl and freshman Andrea Bolla each won their singles matches 6-4, 6-1, and 6-2, 7-5, respectively.

Sophomore Makey Rakotomalala has had a knack for playing three-setters so far in 2018 as each of his first four singles matches of the season have gone the distance and that trend continued once again on Friday.

The sophomore Frenchman pulled out his match against LMU’s Lucas Moreno of 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to clinch the Sun Devils first win of their season.

Geerts noted the team wanted to make sure fitness didn’t hold back the Sun Devils, especially after losing their first three preseason matches against No. 20 Duke, No. 6 Texas A&M, and No. 18 TCU last month.

“I think physically we were really prepared,” Geerts said. “We practiced a lot the last two weeks,

Following day one of the ASU Invitational, ASU head coach Matt Hill explained the feeling of winning as “thrilling.”

“It’s exciting,” Hill said. “We’re honestly super excited for the guys. They were excited to get that off their backs. You could tell they felt better and it was noticeable. ”

With the win over LMU, the Sun Devils will look to keep the success going into the rest of weekend as they face Fresno State and Cal Poly Pomona.

“This a very hungry group that wants to do extremely well,” Hill said. “I think that as we continue to grow and pick up wins then their confidence grows. Everything is going to get stronger and stronger.”

Doubles

Charles Boyce/ Lukas Moenter (LMU) v.s. Michael Geerts/ Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) – 6-6 (suspended)
Nick Borchenko/ Gabriel Diaz Freire (LMU) def. Tim Ruehl/ Benjamin Hannestad (ASU) – 6-4
Diego Smith/ Errol Smith (LMU) def. Thomas Wright/ Andrea Bolls (ASU) – 7-6

– Order of finish: 2, 3, 1 (susp.)

Singles