ASU Men’s Tennis: Sun Devils’ surge falls short, lose to TCU 5-2

(Photo: Mason Kern/WCSN)

After Arizona State men’s tennis team dropped its opening two matches of the season to two quality opponents in No. 25 Duke and No. 7 Texas A&M a weekend ago, the Sun Devils looked to get over the hump as they welcomed No. 10 TCU to the Whiteman Tennis Center in Tempe on Sunday afternoon.

In a hard fought match, the Sun Devils (0-3) dropped their third straight match to begin the 2018 season 5-2 to the Horned Frogs (2-0).

Following the match, ASU head coach Matt Hill explained it’s clear after three matches, his team “needs to get back to basics.”

“I asked the guys what they have to do better and they said ‘we gotta get better in the doubles,’” Hill said. “It’s hard to come back from an 0-3 hole but you know these are the best teams I mean (Texas) A&M is easily a top-5 team, same with TCU so that’s the point, to show these guys the level of competition.”

After ASU’s senior-sophomore duo of Michael Geerts and Makey Rakotomolala was defeated by TCU’s Alastair Gray and Trevor Johnson on court 1 by a score of 6-2, hope seemed lost for gaining the doubles point.

Both courts 2 & 3 were 3-0 in favor of TCU early on, however the tandems of Benjamin Hannestad and Tim Ruehl on two, and Andrea Bolla and Thomas Wright on three were able to pull close, forcing an 11th and 12th game in each of their respective sets. Ultimately, Bolla and Wright dropped the match 7-5, clinching the doubles point for TCU, and suspending the match on court 2.

In each of ASU’s first three matches to start the season, the team hasn’t been able to clinch the doubles point. It’s an area the players and coaching staff alike know they need to improve on if they want to start getting victories over top-ranked opponents.

“Every point is rough when you’re playing these teams,” Hill said. “There’s nothing free out there so when you lose the doubles point you kind of get behind in the count and you have to win four out of six (singles) it gets tough. I thought the doubles were better today and we’ll continue to work at it but I thought it was much better today actually.”

After losing the doubles point, the Sun Devils were in a precarious position having to win four of the six singles matches to win the overall match. Ultimately that didn’t happen, as the Horned Frogs took four of the six en route to their overall match victory.

Both Ruehl and freshman William Kirkman did claim wins in their respective singles matches in impressive fashion giving the Sun Devils two points to their name. While the singles play of Ruehl and Kirkman is encouraging for ASU, personal accolades are not something this team prides itself on, as its points in the team’s win column that matter most.

“Doubles was really tough today losing,” Ruehl said after the match. “I think we did a good job after doubles, but still, it was a tough loss today.”

The Sun Devils will have some time off to practice and expand upon what they learned in their first two weekends back in action. The Sun Devils will play next in the ASU Invitational at Whiteman Tennis Center on the weekend of Feb. 9-10 where they will play host to Cal Poly, Fresno State, and Loyola Marymount in an attempt to get their first win of 2018.

Doubles

1. Alastair Gray/Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Michael Geerts/Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) – 6-2
2. Alex Rybakov/Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) vs. Benjamin Hannestad/Tim Ruehl (ASU) – 6-5 (susp.)
3. Reese Stalder/Bertus Kruger (TCU) def. Andrea Bolla/Thomas Wright (ASU) – 7-5

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

*clinched the doubles point

Singles

1. Alex Rybakov (TCU) def. Michael Geerts (ASU) – 6-2, 6-4
2. Trevor Johnson (TCU) def. Benjamin Hannestad (ASU) – 6-2, 6-4
3. Alastair Gray (TCU) def. Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) – 6-2, 5-6, 6-4
4. Guillermo Nuñez (TCU) def. Andrea Bolla (ASU) – 6-2, 6-4
5. Tim Ruehl (ASU) def. Reese Stalder (TCU) – 7-6, 6-1
6. William Kirkman (ASU) def. Bertus Kruger (TCU) – 6-3, 6-3

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

^clinched the overall match

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