COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In their first postseason berth since 2008, Sun Devil men's tennis dropped their first-round matchup with No. 18 Baylor, 4-0, on Friday morning at the Mitchell Tennis Center at Texas A&M.
"To be playing in the NCAA tournament and to be ranked in the thirties, we were top 15 at one point, to do that with a first year group, a bunch of guys that have never played college tennis before, I think is an amazing accomplishment," coach Matt Hill said. "Obviously disappointed with the loss, this is a tough region, there is a lot of good schools in this region and we knew that going in."
Baylor (21-9) got off to a quick advantage in doubles play, taking their match against No. 68 Michaël Geerts/Tim Ruehl 6-2. The Sun Devils (14-11) fought from there on out in two gritty battles on courts two and three that were close to the very end.
"Baylor has a great team, they are playing well right now obviously, they made a good run at the Big 12 championships and had some good wins there," Hill said. "We know it was going to be tough from start to finish and the score represented that."
Both courts found themselves down 2-1 early on, but both tandems – No. 59 Andrea Bolla/Makey Rakotomalala on court two and Pierre Louis Dodens/Will Kirkman on three – knotted their matches up at four apiece. The latter pair on court two were down 4-2 at one point but scored two-straight points to tie it up.
The Bears scored a key point to take a 6-5 lead on court three and won a close final set to secure the doubles point and a 1-0 lead headed into singles play. Play on court three was abandoned with the clinch.
The Sun Devils sent their usual starting six to the courts in singles play. Baylor used three matches to take the 4-0 victory on courts two, six and four. Hannestad fell first, retiring from his match with Matias Soto with the score 6-2, 3-0.
Down 2-0, Will Kirkman dropped his match 6-3, 6-0 and Tim Ruehl suffered the same fate, 6-2, 6-3 to clinch the match for Baylor by the final of 4-0.
Michaël Geerts is back in action later this month, as he will represent the Sun Devils in the singles championships. The tournament, to be held on the campus of Wake Forest University, is set to kick off on May 23.
Doubles Finishes:
Order of Finish: 1, 3
Singles Finishes:
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 4
"To be playing in the NCAA tournament and to be ranked in the thirties, we were top 15 at one point, to do that with a first year group, a bunch of guys that have never played college tennis before, I think is an amazing accomplishment," coach Matt Hill said. "Obviously disappointed with the loss, this is a tough region, there is a lot of good schools in this region and we knew that going in."
Baylor (21-9) got off to a quick advantage in doubles play, taking their match against No. 68 Michaël Geerts/Tim Ruehl 6-2. The Sun Devils (14-11) fought from there on out in two gritty battles on courts two and three that were close to the very end.
"Baylor has a great team, they are playing well right now obviously, they made a good run at the Big 12 championships and had some good wins there," Hill said. "We know it was going to be tough from start to finish and the score represented that."
Both courts found themselves down 2-1 early on, but both tandems – No. 59 Andrea Bolla/Makey Rakotomalala on court two and Pierre Louis Dodens/Will Kirkman on three – knotted their matches up at four apiece. The latter pair on court two were down 4-2 at one point but scored two-straight points to tie it up.
The Bears scored a key point to take a 6-5 lead on court three and won a close final set to secure the doubles point and a 1-0 lead headed into singles play. Play on court three was abandoned with the clinch.
The Sun Devils sent their usual starting six to the courts in singles play. Baylor used three matches to take the 4-0 victory on courts two, six and four. Hannestad fell first, retiring from his match with Matias Soto with the score 6-2, 3-0.
Down 2-0, Will Kirkman dropped his match 6-3, 6-0 and Tim Ruehl suffered the same fate, 6-2, 6-3 to clinch the match for Baylor by the final of 4-0.
Michaël Geerts is back in action later this month, as he will represent the Sun Devils in the singles championships. The tournament, to be held on the campus of Wake Forest University, is set to kick off on May 23.
Doubles Finishes:
- Schretter/Kotorman (BU) def. No. 68 Geerts/Ruehl (ASU) | 6-2
- No. 59 Bolla/Rakotomalala (ASU) vs. Lah/Smith (BU) | 5-6 unf.
- Little/Franzten (BU) def. Kirkman/Dodens (ASU) | 7-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3
Singles Finishes:
- No. 20 Michael Geerts (ASU) vs. No. 63 Johannes Schretter (BU) |5-7, 1-2 unf.
- Matias Soto (BU) def. No. 80 Benjamin Hannestad (ASU) | 6-2, 3-0 ret.
- No. 122 Sven Lah (BU) def. Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) | 6-1, 1-6, 2-1 unf.
- Will Little (BU) def. Tim Ruehl (ASU) | 6-2, 6-3
- Roy Smith (BU) def. Andrea Bolla (ASU) | 6-3, 2-4 unf.
- Constantin Franzten (BU) def. William Kirkman (ASU) | 6-3, 6-0
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 4