(Photo: Harrison Fuller/WCSN)
TEMPE — The Territorial Cup is typically something Arizona State athletes circle on their calendars and prepare for months in advance. Though on Saturday, the Diablos College Invitational concluded with an unscheduled match between ASU men’s tennis and its bitter in-state rival.
Host team ASU fell to Arizona 4-0, clinching the Wildcats’ third consecutive Diablos Invite title.
“There’s so much to get better at for us to be where we want to be,” ASU head coach Matt Hill said. “Doubles continue to be a pain point for us.”
The No. 11-ranked Sun Devils fell to 12-4 after Saturday’s loss, and a drop in the next Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll now appears inevitable.
Though the Wildcats were not ranked in the most recent ITA top-25 team poll, they boasted four players in the ITA top-100 singles player rankings.
Arizona’s Jay Friend, the nation’s fifth-ranked singles player, faced ASU’s Bor Artnak on the featured court in the final match, as fans packed the bleachers at Kiwanis Park in Tempe for the marquee showdown.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Friend and Artnak traded punishing rallies across the court, every point carrying extra weight with a rival on the other side of the net.
In the opening set, Friend erased a two-game deficit to force a first-to-seven tiebreaker. Artnak surged ahead 6-3, just one point from claiming the set, but Friend clawed back to even the score. With the pressure mounting, Artnak stepped to the line to serve. The first attempt sailed long. The second fell short, falling into the net. A crushing double fault handed Friend the set.
When Artnak’s final serve hit the net, Friend belted for everyone to hear.
“I’m so gritty! Give me that!”
He was able to capitalize on his first set momentum and took the second by a wide margin, 6-2, and won the match.
His teammates followed suit. Just one court over, the team’s number two players engaged in an equally exciting match.
Arizona’s Filip Gustafson and ASU’s Mathis Bondaz’s match was truly a tale of two play styles. Bondaz, standing at 5 feet 6 inches, relies on his lateral quickness and intensity to outmaneuver his opponents. Gustafson, on the other hand, uses his 6 feet 1 inch stature and long limbs to wind up his shot and get tremendous amounts of velocity on his forehand and backhand.
Bondaz is most like a sprinter, while Gustafson plays the game like a marathon runner.
Just like a 100m runner would, Bondaz got out of the blocks fast. He erupted to a 6-3 first set win. No matter where Gustafson placed the ball, Bondaz darted to the spot and fired back with an energetic return.
But just like any good long distance runner, Gustafson waited to kick. Using his superior stamina, the sophomore Swede won the second set, 6-1, tying the game at one set a piece.
However, a winner would never be decided. The third set was left unfinished due to Arizona winning the three matches it needed to claim the team win and the tournament title.
In collegiate tennis tournaments, a team only needs four individual match wins to be declared a team match victor. Once those matches have been won, any ongoing games are stopped due to the mathematical impossibility for a comeback.
In addition to Friend’s victory over Artnak, Arizona’s Alexander Rozin, Zoran Ludoski and Glib Sekachov all beat their ASU opponents.
Though the tournament ending was bittersweet, ASU was happy to be back in Tempe. The tournament bookended the Sun Devil’s five game road slate.
“It’s nice,” Hill said. “You get to sleep in your own bed. It just makes things a lot easier.”
The loss to their intrastate rival may have been the only thing on the Sun Devils’ minds as they went to bed Saturday night, but the weekend also delivered key victories that risk being overlooked in the tournament’s larger narrative.
ASU started the tournament with a 4-1 win against Tulane and a doubles win over Liberty on Friday night.
The Sun Devils continued their win streak to mid-day Saturday when they bested Liberty in singles play. Notably, ASU’s third, fourth and fifth-positioned players won their matches so quickly, it left the top two matches unfinished.
Coach Hill says the Sun Devils look to reflect and build on its loss to Arizona ahead of its rematch with the Wildcats three weeks down the road.
First, however, the Sun Devils will look to regroup at the UTR College Championships in Indian Wells, Calif. in mid-March – their next opportunity to respond.
