WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Going up against the defending national champion No. 1 Wake Forest, Arizona State men's tennis pulled out to an early 1-0 lead after securing the doubles point but ultimately fell, 5-2, on Saturday evening at the Wake Forest Tennis Center.
ASU has shown major improvement in tandem play in just one season's time, as it took the Sun Devils two matches to score two doubles points this year, a feat ASU didn't achieve until five games into the season in 2018.
The Devils fell behind early in doubles play, surrendering their match on court three, 6-1. However, ASU turned a corner and kicked things into over drive as the tandem of Makey Rakotomalala and Justin Roberts were neck-and-neck with their opponent for most of their match.
The pair tied at 1-1 early on and that turned to a win one, lose one affair all the way until the Devils duo pulled out to a 6-5 lead. The tandem punctuated a strong final game with back-to-back service aces by Rakotomalala to secure their second-straight victory on the season as a pair.
With a win on court two and a loss on court three, the doubles point came down to Dominik Kellovsky and Nathan Ponwith on court one, with the transfer tandem playing in their first match as a pair.
The two showed strong chemistry from the beginning, holding a one-game lead for the majority of the match. It came down to match point at 6-5 (deuce), and the Scottsdale-native Ponwith stepped up for his team and laced a hit to the gap in the back-left corner to secure the doubles point for ASU.
Moving into singles play with a 1-0 lead, the Sun Devils dropped five of six first sets but remained competitive in the match until the very end. Ponwith registered the only first-set win for ASU in another back-and-forth set, 7-5.
The Sun Devils dropped their matches on courts one and six in straight-sets, as Kellovsky was unable to overcome current top-ranked singles player and reigning singles national champion Petros Chrysochos on court one, giving Wake Forest a 2-1 lead.
Rakotomalala and Roberts dropped their matches on courts five and three, respectively, to allow Wake Forest to clinch the win, however, both teams decided to play out the remaining two matches with Ponwith leading 7-5, 2-2 and Ruehl battling to force a third set at 2-6, 6-2.
Ruehl jumped out to a 3-2 third-set lead and never looked back, taking three straight games to win the final set, 6-2. The win marks his second-consecutive win in as many matches, and is his first-career win over a ranked opponent, No. 80 Rrezart Cungu.
Ponwith eventually lost his third set to fall to No. 25 Bar Botzer, bringing the score to the final 5-2.
The Sun Devils are back in action next weekend as they travel to Fort Worth for the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend. ASU faces off against Oklahoma State on Saturday and will play another match on Sunday against either TCU or LMU.
ASU has shown major improvement in tandem play in just one season's time, as it took the Sun Devils two matches to score two doubles points this year, a feat ASU didn't achieve until five games into the season in 2018.
The Devils fell behind early in doubles play, surrendering their match on court three, 6-1. However, ASU turned a corner and kicked things into over drive as the tandem of Makey Rakotomalala and Justin Roberts were neck-and-neck with their opponent for most of their match.
The pair tied at 1-1 early on and that turned to a win one, lose one affair all the way until the Devils duo pulled out to a 6-5 lead. The tandem punctuated a strong final game with back-to-back service aces by Rakotomalala to secure their second-straight victory on the season as a pair.
With a win on court two and a loss on court three, the doubles point came down to Dominik Kellovsky and Nathan Ponwith on court one, with the transfer tandem playing in their first match as a pair.
The two showed strong chemistry from the beginning, holding a one-game lead for the majority of the match. It came down to match point at 6-5 (deuce), and the Scottsdale-native Ponwith stepped up for his team and laced a hit to the gap in the back-left corner to secure the doubles point for ASU.
Moving into singles play with a 1-0 lead, the Sun Devils dropped five of six first sets but remained competitive in the match until the very end. Ponwith registered the only first-set win for ASU in another back-and-forth set, 7-5.
The Sun Devils dropped their matches on courts one and six in straight-sets, as Kellovsky was unable to overcome current top-ranked singles player and reigning singles national champion Petros Chrysochos on court one, giving Wake Forest a 2-1 lead.
Rakotomalala and Roberts dropped their matches on courts five and three, respectively, to allow Wake Forest to clinch the win, however, both teams decided to play out the remaining two matches with Ponwith leading 7-5, 2-2 and Ruehl battling to force a third set at 2-6, 6-2.
Ruehl jumped out to a 3-2 third-set lead and never looked back, taking three straight games to win the final set, 6-2. The win marks his second-consecutive win in as many matches, and is his first-career win over a ranked opponent, No. 80 Rrezart Cungu.
Ponwith eventually lost his third set to fall to No. 25 Bar Botzer, bringing the score to the final 5-2.
The Sun Devils are back in action next weekend as they travel to Fort Worth for the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend. ASU faces off against Oklahoma State on Saturday and will play another match on Sunday against either TCU or LMU.