FORT WORTH, Texas – The Sun Devil men's tennis squad dropped their match with No. 20 Oklahoma State 4-3 on Saturday afternoon. The team is back in action tomorrow at noon MST to take on LMU.
By Matt Hill, Head Men's Tennis Coach
Makey [Rakotomalala] and Justin [Roberts] have been playing high-level doubles over the last couple of weeks and today wasn't any different. They're gelling well together, and they know their style of play.
There were a couple points in their match that they stepped up to play high-level tennis and that swung it our way, 2-0. They started steam rolling from there to win 6-0 and hold a 3-0 record on the season. Their consistency has been huge because we get to walk out there and think "OK we're up 1-0 in doubles. Now we just have to win one of the other two."
Tim [Ruehl] and Will [Kirkman] were great today as a pair. It was impressive to see them. Will did a great job at stepping in today at three doubles and served exceptionally. He was aggressive at the net. I felt like at the Wake Forest match, he wasn't necessarily ready to go, but we didn't have any other option. He had to go. He had a week of training since then and he looked much, much better overall.
We are way better along at doubles this year compared to this time last season. We have a better feel for our parings, their styles, where the guys' strengths are and how to match them up with different guys. We know way more about our guys, so it's easier to make proper decisions on pairs and who's with who. It's a nice feeling going into singles when you're leading 1-0.
Makey took the first singles win, and he continues to perform his style of play consistently. He's doing a better job of controlling his emotions and playing at a more consistent level which is huge for him. He had a little lull mid-way through the second set, but he got himself out of a tough game. He's worked a lot on his backhand over the last year, and it shows off in those moments. He's playing really great right now.
Will won his match next, and it was impressive from him. He's playing awesome right now that he's got some training under his belt. He followed the plan today and when his opponent made tactical adjustments, he adjusted significantly mid-way through the second set.
The coaches were having their players switch their styles and it was working, so Will had to switch his tactics again for a second time. He did a nice job of adjusting his game plan to a different one and finishing his match strong.
Although Will hasn't played consistently, he's always successful when he does play. That's who he is. We don't have a really big team and we've had some injuries, so he knows that he can be in there at any moment. He's the type of guy where you know he's going to compete and have a great chance to win even when he is just thrown in there.
It's not just Will, we have a lot of guys on our team like that. We have a very deep roster with a lot of talent on and off the court. It doesn't bother us if someone's banged up or someone's not playing great. We have a lot of options available to us that can provide us strengths down the road.
Although we lost 4-3, the thing about tennis is that it's six individual matches. While the scoreboard was 3-0, those other matches were their own games. With a team like Oklahoma State that's well-coached, competes and is in a tough conference, the scoreboard might say 3-0 but that has nothing to do with how guys are handling their own matches.
Down the stretch we're getting away from the game plan too much. We're not handling our emotions or adversity that's coming with the matches very good and it's showing. That's why that's happening to us.
We have to get better at knowing what we're going to do on the court and sticking with it when it really matters. We have to get better at handling our emotions and playing point-to-point as to not let so many things affect us. If we do all of that, we could've flipped even just one of those three-setters and we're beating the No. 20 team in the country today.
We're not far away, we just have to get some work done. Obviously if you don't play good mathematically and emotionally, you're not going to win any of those matches.
Tomorrow we face off against LMU. We know them: They're well-coached and they have a good team. It'll be another tough battle tomorrow. We'll start our game-planning and getting focused tonight and then we'll go from there.
By Matt Hill, Head Men's Tennis Coach
Makey [Rakotomalala] and Justin [Roberts] have been playing high-level doubles over the last couple of weeks and today wasn't any different. They're gelling well together, and they know their style of play.
There were a couple points in their match that they stepped up to play high-level tennis and that swung it our way, 2-0. They started steam rolling from there to win 6-0 and hold a 3-0 record on the season. Their consistency has been huge because we get to walk out there and think "OK we're up 1-0 in doubles. Now we just have to win one of the other two."
Tim [Ruehl] and Will [Kirkman] were great today as a pair. It was impressive to see them. Will did a great job at stepping in today at three doubles and served exceptionally. He was aggressive at the net. I felt like at the Wake Forest match, he wasn't necessarily ready to go, but we didn't have any other option. He had to go. He had a week of training since then and he looked much, much better overall.
We are way better along at doubles this year compared to this time last season. We have a better feel for our parings, their styles, where the guys' strengths are and how to match them up with different guys. We know way more about our guys, so it's easier to make proper decisions on pairs and who's with who. It's a nice feeling going into singles when you're leading 1-0.
Makey took the first singles win, and he continues to perform his style of play consistently. He's doing a better job of controlling his emotions and playing at a more consistent level which is huge for him. He had a little lull mid-way through the second set, but he got himself out of a tough game. He's worked a lot on his backhand over the last year, and it shows off in those moments. He's playing really great right now.
Will won his match next, and it was impressive from him. He's playing awesome right now that he's got some training under his belt. He followed the plan today and when his opponent made tactical adjustments, he adjusted significantly mid-way through the second set.
The coaches were having their players switch their styles and it was working, so Will had to switch his tactics again for a second time. He did a nice job of adjusting his game plan to a different one and finishing his match strong.
Although Will hasn't played consistently, he's always successful when he does play. That's who he is. We don't have a really big team and we've had some injuries, so he knows that he can be in there at any moment. He's the type of guy where you know he's going to compete and have a great chance to win even when he is just thrown in there.
It's not just Will, we have a lot of guys on our team like that. We have a very deep roster with a lot of talent on and off the court. It doesn't bother us if someone's banged up or someone's not playing great. We have a lot of options available to us that can provide us strengths down the road.
Although we lost 4-3, the thing about tennis is that it's six individual matches. While the scoreboard was 3-0, those other matches were their own games. With a team like Oklahoma State that's well-coached, competes and is in a tough conference, the scoreboard might say 3-0 but that has nothing to do with how guys are handling their own matches.
Down the stretch we're getting away from the game plan too much. We're not handling our emotions or adversity that's coming with the matches very good and it's showing. That's why that's happening to us.
We have to get better at knowing what we're going to do on the court and sticking with it when it really matters. We have to get better at handling our emotions and playing point-to-point as to not let so many things affect us. If we do all of that, we could've flipped even just one of those three-setters and we're beating the No. 20 team in the country today.
We're not far away, we just have to get some work done. Obviously if you don't play good mathematically and emotionally, you're not going to win any of those matches.
Tomorrow we face off against LMU. We know them: They're well-coached and they have a good team. It'll be another tough battle tomorrow. We'll start our game-planning and getting focused tonight and then we'll go from there.