(Photo Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)
After soaking up the sunshine in California for their past five games. The Arizona State men’s tennis team returns to the desert this weekend at the Whitemen Tennis Center.
While away the team continued their success this season. They played four matches, going 3-1 and placing second in the Ed Collins Classic in San Diego. A fifth match was supposed to be played against No. 47 USC, but due to weather conditions the match got suspended.
ASU has had a strong stretch in March going 5-2 in their matches for the month. The only two losses came to No. 12 San Diego and No. 18 Michigan State. The Sun Devils #1 player in Junior Murphy Cassone is ranked No. 3 in the nation in the most recent ITA rankings. During this stretch in March, Cassone has gone 1-2 in singles matches losing to two players ranked in the top 30. Oliver Tarvet (7) for San Diego and Govind Nanda for UCLA (28).
Another bright spot for this ASU squad has been the #1 doubles team in freshman Bob Artnak and Senior Max McKennon. They’re 4-1 on the year and are currently ranked No. 62 in the country. They look to make it 3 straight doubles matches wins after this weekend.
Now, the Sun Devils (13-6, 1-0 Pac-12) look forward to strengthening their record within the Pac-12 with two teams in conference visiting the desert ready for battle.
Stanford
The Sun Devils start their weekend off with a clash against the No. 33 Stanford Cardinal (10-4, 2-0 Pac-12) on Friday. The Cardinal are riding a four match winning streak with their last loss coming to the No. 12 San Diego Toreros, 4-0.
The Cardinal have been simply dominant to start off Pac-12 play. Winning their first two matches with scores of 4-0, but now they face a test with their first conference road game against the Sun Devils, who are 6-2 at home games this season.
Stanford is 1-4 against top-25 ranked opponents this season, with losses to Texas, TCU and Michigan. With ASU ranking No. 17, the Sun Devils look to continue this trend on Friday.
Regardless of how Stanford plays against top-25 teams, the Cardinal are dominant against the Sun Devils all time. They have a 20-4 record against ASU and are currently riding a three match winning streak against the Sun Devils. The last time ASU beat the Cardinal was back in 2021, with a 4-3 win.
With the most recent ITA rankings the Cardinal have three ranked players: Nishesh Basavareddy (23), Samir Banerjee (51) and Neel Rajesh (89). They only have one ranked doubles pair in Max Basing and Nicholas Godsick (21). Another top-25 opponent that Cassoine will clash with.
It’ll be a tall task for the ASU duo on court 1 to take down Basing and Godsick who have only lost 1 doubles match all year. The duo has been just as dominant in doubles as Artnak and McKennon, and they should be slated for a good matchup on Friday.
California
After Stanford, the Sun Devils shift their focus to the No. 59 California Golden Bears on Sunday. The Golden Bears (7-6, 2-0 Pac-12) are also coming into the desert hot. They are on a three match winning streak, their longest of the season. They were able to take down Oregon and Washington with scores of 4-1 in both matches to open up Pac-12 play.
The biggest trend for the Golden Bears this season is their struggles on the road. They haven’t won a road match all season with a record 0-3 at away games. They have a strong record of 5-1 at home, but the Sun Devils hope to continue their losing streak on the road, Sunday.
Cal only has two ranked singles players in the ITA rankings with Ryder Jackson (76) and
Carl Emil Overbeck (102). They do in fact have one of the best doubles pairs in the country with
Alex Chang and Michael Wright (12). Just like the Stanford match, the number 1 doubles duo for ASU will have their hands full with another top-25 opponent.
