TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State men's tennis returns to Tempe for the first time this season, welcoming the Pepperdine Waves for a 1 p.m. matchup this Saturday at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
ASU returns home after a trip to Fort Worth for the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend. The ITA held a draft over the summer in ranking order for teams to pick which site they'd like to compete at, and the then-No. 38 Sun Devils chose to the be the No. 3 seed at the Fort Worth site. They were joined by host No. 22 TCU, No. 20 Oklahoma State and Loyola Marymount.
After a tough 4-3 loss to No. 20 Oklahoma State, the Sun Devils were set to take on LMU on Sunday. However, ASU won by forfeit after the Lions were forced to recuse themselves after a team-wide sickness.
This weekend's opponent the Waves (0-2) are a familiar foe to the Sun Devils, as this season's matchup is the Tempe-hosted game of a home-and-away series that began in Malibu last year.
The sweeping 4-0 win for the Sun Devils capped off a successful first road trip in which they defeated San Diego and Pepperdine. The Sun Devils quickly took the doubles point in the match in Malibu, and then three-straight singles matches on the heels of Tim Ruehl, Pierre Louis Dodens and William Kirkman.
Last week, Tim Ruehl was awarded the Pac-12 Player of the Week as he recognized for his performance in the Sun Devils' matchups against Duke and No. 1 Wake Forest, a weekend in which he went a perfect 2-0 in singles play and 1-1 in doubles play. He is the first Sun Devil to receive the honor since Michael Geerts did it twice in 2018.
The German notched his first career win over a ranked opponent, defeating No. 80 Rrezart Cungu of Wake Forest 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday. His win in tandem with Andrea Bolla – together they are ranked the No. 22 doubles pair in the nation – was against Duke to the tune of a 6-1 victory.
Pepperdine returns just three members of last year's squad – two of which the Sun Devils registered singles wins over – while bringing in two transfers and two freshmen. A historically successful program, the Waves have dominated the West Coast Conference in part by 20-consecutive conference titles between 1992 and 2010 and 43 overall since 1958.
Saturday's matchup can be kept up with in a myriad of ways: Fans can stream the matchup on the ASU Livestream, keep up with live stats or follow @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter for match updates.
ASU returns home after a trip to Fort Worth for the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend. The ITA held a draft over the summer in ranking order for teams to pick which site they'd like to compete at, and the then-No. 38 Sun Devils chose to the be the No. 3 seed at the Fort Worth site. They were joined by host No. 22 TCU, No. 20 Oklahoma State and Loyola Marymount.
After a tough 4-3 loss to No. 20 Oklahoma State, the Sun Devils were set to take on LMU on Sunday. However, ASU won by forfeit after the Lions were forced to recuse themselves after a team-wide sickness.
This weekend's opponent the Waves (0-2) are a familiar foe to the Sun Devils, as this season's matchup is the Tempe-hosted game of a home-and-away series that began in Malibu last year.
The sweeping 4-0 win for the Sun Devils capped off a successful first road trip in which they defeated San Diego and Pepperdine. The Sun Devils quickly took the doubles point in the match in Malibu, and then three-straight singles matches on the heels of Tim Ruehl, Pierre Louis Dodens and William Kirkman.
Last week, Tim Ruehl was awarded the Pac-12 Player of the Week as he recognized for his performance in the Sun Devils' matchups against Duke and No. 1 Wake Forest, a weekend in which he went a perfect 2-0 in singles play and 1-1 in doubles play. He is the first Sun Devil to receive the honor since Michael Geerts did it twice in 2018.
The German notched his first career win over a ranked opponent, defeating No. 80 Rrezart Cungu of Wake Forest 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Saturday. His win in tandem with Andrea Bolla – together they are ranked the No. 22 doubles pair in the nation – was against Duke to the tune of a 6-1 victory.
Pepperdine returns just three members of last year's squad – two of which the Sun Devils registered singles wins over – while bringing in two transfers and two freshmen. A historically successful program, the Waves have dominated the West Coast Conference in part by 20-consecutive conference titles between 1992 and 2010 and 43 overall since 1958.
Saturday's matchup can be kept up with in a myriad of ways: Fans can stream the matchup on the ASU Livestream, keep up with live stats or follow @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter for match updates.