ASU Men’s Tennis: Sun Devils slump in opening weekend of Pac-12 play

(Photo: Alex Roddier/WCSN)

The Bay Area was not kind to Arizona State this weekend.

After notching its first win (4-3) over a ranked team in then-No. 41 San Diego, ASU hit the road to kick off Pac-12 play against No. 7 Stanford and California. Seeking revenge for two close losses a year ago and with momentum leading them into the beginning of conference matches, the Sun Devils seemed poised to make an impact early in the conference.

However, a 12-day period in-between matches proved to shed that momentum away, as the Sun Devils (4-7, 0-2 Pac-12) fell to both of their conference opponents in the Bay.

“We’re not getting consistent performances out of the same guys,” ASU coach Matt Hill said, “so it makes it really challenging to know what you’re going to expect. They can’t go patches of smart tennis where they’re competing well and then patches where they’re not.”

After falling to the Cardinal 4-3 a year ago, the Sun Devils were keen on reversing that result this time around. However, Stanford had an influx of young talent via recruiting this offseason, and the group has spearheaded the squad to a top-10 Oracle/ITA ranking. And it showed, as ASU did not garner a point in a 4-0 drubbing.

Doubles play has been a resoundingly strong area for the Sun Devils this season, and each of the program’s three tandems are ranked in the top-55 of the rankings or higher; the only Pac-12 program that can claim such a stat.

However, Stanford (11-2, 2-0) found a groove and got ASU’s number, achieving the doubles point with wins on courts one and two to gain a 1-0 advantage heading into singles. The Cardinal also feature four players ranked in singles, whereas the Sun Devils sent one ranked player in No. 74 junior Nathan Ponwith.

“We had some missed opportunities at two doubles early on,” Hill said. “At one doubles, I feel like we didn’t serve as well as we have been which made it tough on ourselves even though we were right there.”

Slow starts to the period resulted in every ASU player other than graduate transfer Justin Roberts losing their first set. Then, junior Makey Rakotomalala lost in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 to extend Stanford’s lead to 2-0. Junior Dominik Kellovsky battled his opponent into a tiebreaker on court one in the first set, but also dropped his match 7-6(2), 6-1.

“Stanford is good at what they do,” Hill said. “This is another tough learning lesson for these guys that their tactical and mental disciplines have to be much stronger.”

Coming off the loss, ASU had little time for rest and recovery, kicking off its match with California (4-5, 2-0) the next day. Similar to last season, the match between the two sides experienced a rain delay just five minutes into play, but resumed shortly thereafter with ASU taking the doubles point.

The Sun Devils gained a 2-0 advantage when Rakotomalala won his match on court six in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. The victory gave the junior his team-leading sixth singles win of the campaign. However, the advantage was short lived as the Golden Bears rattled off three straight singles win to take a 3-2 lead.

Despite forcing tiebreaks in both of his sets, Roberts fell on court five 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2) to seal a California victory 4-2.

“If you want to beat [conference] teams,” Hill said, “it takes more focus on the choices that they’re making with their tactics and more discipline with their mind as it relates to focus, concentration and emotional control. These are things the top-10 teams do very well.”

ASU scheduled an additional home match for this Tuesday against Liberty. It will be one of the six the team plays in Tempe this season.

Match Results:

ASU vs. No. 7 Stanford (4-0 loss)

Doubles

1. No. 70 Axel Geller/Alexandre Rotsaert (Stanford) def. No. 49 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith (ASU) – 7-5^
2. Jack Barber/William Genesen (Stanford) def. No. 55 Justin Roberts/Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) – 6-2
3. No. 39 Tim Ruehl/Andrea Bolla (ASU) vs. Sameer Kumar/Timothy Sah (Stanford) – 5-6 (susp.)

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

^Clinched doubles point

Singles

1. No. 8 Axel Geller (Stanford) def. Dominik Kellovsky (ASU) – 7-6(2), 6-1
2. No. 32 Alexandre Rotsaert (Stanford) def. No. 74 Nathan Ponwith (ASU) – 6-2, 7-5
3. Andrea Bolla (ASU) vs. William Genesen (Stanford) – 2-6, 5-4 (susp.)
4. Tim Ruehl (ASU) vs. No. 35 Sameer Kumar (Stanford) – 4-6, 4-5 (susp.)
5. Justin Roberts (ASU) vs. Michael Genender (Stanford) – 6-4, 3-6, 0-2 (susp.)
6. Timothy Sah (Stanford) def. Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) – 6-1, 6-2

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

*Clinched victory

ASU vs. California (4-2 loss)

Doubles

1. No. 49 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith (ASU) def. No. 33 Paul Barretto/Can Kaya (Cal)– 6-3^
2. No. 55 Justin Roberts/Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) vs. Jack Molloy/Mert Zincirli (Cal) – 3-5 (susp.)
3. No. 39 Tim Ruehl/Andrea Bolla (ASU) def. Dominic Barretto/Bjorn Hoffmann (Cal) – 6-3

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

^Clinched doubles point

Singles

1. Yuta Kikuchi (Cal) def. Dominik Kellovsky (ASU) – 6-4, 7-6(11)
2. No. 74 Nathan Ponwith (ASU) vs. Paul Barretto (Cal) – 4-6, 4-5 (susp.)
3. Jack Molloy (Cal) def. Andrea Bolla (ASU) – 6-2, 7-5
4. Bjorn Hoffmann (Cal) def. Tim Ruehl (ASU) – 6-2, 7-5
5. Ben Draper (Cal) def. Justin Roberts (ASU) – 7-6(4), 7-6(2)*
6. Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) def. Dominic Barretto (Cal) – 6-2, 6-3

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

*Clinched victory

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