TEMPE -- Riding a five-game win streak into this week, Sun Devil men's tennis cracked the ITA/Oracle Men's National Team Rankings, released Tuesday morning, debuting at No. 20.
The Sun Devils (5-3) are on a hot streak as of late after opening their comeback season against some of the toughest teams in the country, including matches against No. 25 Duke, No. 10 TCU and No. 7 Texas A&M. ASU took the lessons they learned from those prestigious teams into the ASU Invitational that sparked their win streak.
"When you get a couple wins under your belt, there's a little more excitement and confidence," coach Matt Hill said. "We didn't see the results we wanted early on, but at the end of the day we created a difficult schedule early on on purpose."
Sweeping the Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record on the weekend against Loyola Marymount, Fresno State and Cal Poly, ASU gained some confidence. After that weekend, three players landed in the ITA individual rankings including No. 38 Benjamin Hannestad, No. 70 Michaël Geerts and No. 90 Makey Rakotomalala.
ASU rolled into their first road trip of the season with a ton of momentum. After losing the doubles point against 2017 NCAA Tournament competitor San Diego, the Sun Devils embarked on a huge comeback victory anchored by singles wins from Geerts, Hannestad, Tim Ruehl and Thomas Wright to snag a 4-3 comeback win against the Toreros.
"It was a huge boost to us because San Diego has a really good team this year," Hill said. "Michaël Geerts handled the situation so professionally and tactically and did everything we had been talking about this season."
The Devils drove a couple hours north the next day to take on the Pepperdine Waves, who entered the match in control of a 9-1 overall record against ASU at home. The Waves have been a dominating presence in the West Coast Conference since the early 1990's, and ASU hadn't won at Pepperdine since the 1999 season before sweeping the match, 4-0, Sunday.
With a formidable task ahead of them, the Devils stepped up and dominated, taking the doubles point and three-straight singles matches to record the victory and continue their five-game win streak. Through the streak, the Sun Devils have been anchored by Tim Ruehl, who holds a 5-1 record this spring including winning his last five singles matches.
No. 20 Sun Devil men's tennis returns to action this weekend as they travel to Montgomery, Ala. for the prestigious 70th Annual Blue Gray Tennis Classic. Fans can follow along with the action by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter and checking out the Classic's website.
The Sun Devils are punching in at No. 2?0? in the newest #OracleITARankings ?? #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/0FOKgfKVAM
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) February 20, 2018
The Sun Devils (5-3) are on a hot streak as of late after opening their comeback season against some of the toughest teams in the country, including matches against No. 25 Duke, No. 10 TCU and No. 7 Texas A&M. ASU took the lessons they learned from those prestigious teams into the ASU Invitational that sparked their win streak.
"When you get a couple wins under your belt, there's a little more excitement and confidence," coach Matt Hill said. "We didn't see the results we wanted early on, but at the end of the day we created a difficult schedule early on on purpose."
Sweeping the Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record on the weekend against Loyola Marymount, Fresno State and Cal Poly, ASU gained some confidence. After that weekend, three players landed in the ITA individual rankings including No. 38 Benjamin Hannestad, No. 70 Michaël Geerts and No. 90 Makey Rakotomalala.
ASU rolled into their first road trip of the season with a ton of momentum. After losing the doubles point against 2017 NCAA Tournament competitor San Diego, the Sun Devils embarked on a huge comeback victory anchored by singles wins from Geerts, Hannestad, Tim Ruehl and Thomas Wright to snag a 4-3 comeback win against the Toreros.
"It was a huge boost to us because San Diego has a really good team this year," Hill said. "Michaël Geerts handled the situation so professionally and tactically and did everything we had been talking about this season."
The Devils drove a couple hours north the next day to take on the Pepperdine Waves, who entered the match in control of a 9-1 overall record against ASU at home. The Waves have been a dominating presence in the West Coast Conference since the early 1990's, and ASU hadn't won at Pepperdine since the 1999 season before sweeping the match, 4-0, Sunday.
With a formidable task ahead of them, the Devils stepped up and dominated, taking the doubles point and three-straight singles matches to record the victory and continue their five-game win streak. Through the streak, the Sun Devils have been anchored by Tim Ruehl, who holds a 5-1 record this spring including winning his last five singles matches.
Great first road trip! Proud of my boys for both days. Happy to get my first official singles win and get our debut doubles win with Pierre today! Let's go devils ??
— Tom wright (@TTomWrighty) February 19, 2018
No. 20 Sun Devil men's tennis returns to action this weekend as they travel to Montgomery, Ala. for the prestigious 70th Annual Blue Gray Tennis Classic. Fans can follow along with the action by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter and checking out the Classic's website.