TEMPE — In a thrilling match, ASU and San Diego battled and left an impact on fans in attendance.
Coming into the match, the 10-2 and No. 7 ranked Toreros were in need of a strong performance following their (4-0) defeat at the hands of the No. 14 University of Arizona. Meanwhile, the No. 38-ranked Sun Devils were on a similar trajectory losing to the unranked Utah Utes (4-3). These outcomes made the stakes sky-high at the Whiteman Tennis Center, adding extra competitiveness and making the competition a fierce nine-match dogfight.
The start of the match did not disappoint as the doubles teams brought the boom and got the fans engaged immediately.
The first doubles match featured the Sun Devils Bor Artnak and Matic Dimic taking on the Toreros Stain Klaassen and Iiro Vasa. The combination of strong forehands, premium serving, and high tensions made this match a must-watch.
Ultimately it was Artnak and Dimic taking the match by a (6-4) final to give the Sun Devils momentum for the rest of the doubles matches. Although Artnak and Dimic gave the Sun Devils a great start, their finish to the doubles matches was a major decider in the match overall.
Tanner Povey and Daniel Phillips lost their match to Blake Kasady and Saviryan Danilov who won their match through skill and strategic shot placement. With the second doubles losing their match, the decider for the doubles point was the third doubles.
With the doubles point on the line, Head Coach Matt Hill turned to Mikey Anderson and Nicola Cigna in an attempt to pick up the doubles point. Unfortunately for them, USD’s Adrien Berrut and Nikhil Niranjan were too much as the Toreros took the third doubles set by a final of (7-5) and ultimately won the doubles point.
With the Sun Devils unable to rack up the doubles point they then turned their attention to the singles competition and tensions remained hot.
At first singles, Savriyan Danilov, the No.44 ranked player nationally took on ASU’s Mathis Bondaz in one of the best matchups of the day. Danilov defeated Bondaz in straight sets (6-3, 6-4). Although the scoreboard suggests it was a one-sided affair, Bondaz displayed poise and fought rigorously, but the power and consistency of Danilov eventually took over in the match.
Despite the events on the first singles court, the Sun Devils continued to fight on other singles courts. ASU’s Bor Artnak won his match at second singles over Iiro Vaso (6-4,6-1). Artnak has now won his last five matches dating back to February 6th.
ASU also picked up match wins on the fourth and sixth singles courts with Nicola Cigna (6-0,6-2) and Roi Ginat (6-0,6-3) both picking up singles wins.
All the Sun Devils needed was a singles win from either the third singles court or the fifth singles court to pull off the shocking victory over the No. 7 ranked team in the country.
Sadly for them, they were unable to finish the job.
The third singles match saw Stian Klaassen ranked number 100 defeat former five-star recruit Tanner Povey (6-7, 6-3, 6-1). Although it was a losing effort for Povey, Coach Matt Hill was very “impressed” with Povey’s performance.
Hill cited the fact that “all Klaassen does is win matches for them.”
Even with the third singles loss, ASU still was in a good position, all they needed was Daniel Phillips to step up and win his match. For Phillips, his attitude, close calls, and overall solid play from his opponent Neo Niedner led to his demise on Sunday. He lost the first set in a closely contested battle, 7-5.
But, Phillips was able to make adjustments and come back strong in the second set (6-3) showing a variety of tools in his arsenal and a fist bump to cap off the second set. That left it up to the third set where unforced errors became Phillips’ tennis nightmare as Niedner wound up winning the third set 6-3 to cap off the performance for the Toreros.
Coach Hill was very displeased with the mental game with Phillips.
“We did a poor job on five when we were down a break, where we were carrying over the frustrations from the previous game,” Hill said.
The win moves the Toreros to 10-2 on the season while the Sun Devils drop to 5-5 on the season. ASU will look to put emotions aside and get ready for the Diablos College Invitational coming up on Feb. 28 and March 1.
