WACO, Texas – Despite rain forcing a move from College Station to Waco, Sun Devil men's tennis faced off against Texas A&M, falling to the Aggies 5-2 on Friday night at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Facility at Baylor University.
ASU got off to a slow start in doubles play, dropping all first sets early on. All three matches were back-and-forth affairs, however, the Aggies slowly gained traction on courts one and three to eventually clinch the first point off victories on those courts.
Andrea Bolla and Benjamin Hannestad fell first by a final of 6-3 on court three in their first match together of the season. Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts came through to even the advantage with a win on court two, 6-4, to seal a comeback victory for the tandem. The pair has been on a hot streak as of late, winning four of their first five matches to begin the 2019 season.
"It was an average performance at best by Makey and Justin, and a big part of us being successful against these big teams is taking days where you're not playing so well and turning those into some level of performance to get us across the finish line" coach Matt Hill said. "I thought they did a great job at doing exactly that tonight."
The first point came down to a tense match on court one with No. 51 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith, who sat at deuce down 5-2 late in the affair. However, the pair was unable to overcome their opponent, dropping the match 6-3 to cede the doubles point for just the second time this season.
A&M sent four ranked players to the court for singles play with Ponwith up against No. 47 Valentin Vacherot, Roberts with No. 66 Barnaby Smith, Rakotomalala and No. 105 Austin Abbrat and Kellovsky against No. 121 Juan Carlos Aguilar.
Rakotomalala stepped up to even the score for the Sun Devils, taking a victory on court five in straight sets. The Frenchman took his first set by an easy 6-1 and then cruised to a 6-0 second set win for the equalizer, 1-1 to hand Abbrat his first loss of the season. However, A&M retook the lead off a win on court six over William Kirkman.
"Mack is playing really well right now because he's improved in key areas that are allowing him to play his own game more often," Hill said. "You're now seeing that in the results because he competed really well and was emotionally and mentally there point-to-point."
On court two, Bolla played an impressive match despite losing in straight sets 6-0, 7-6. He tied 3-3 midway through his second set and although he was down 6-5 at deuce, Bolla managed to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. He dropped that final game, 7-5. However, Hill has praised the Italian for his play as of late, and he echoed the same sentiment despite the loss.
"It was a little bit of a split performance tonight from Andrea because I think he carried his doubles loss with him into his first set," Hill said. "The kid that he played is one of the best players in college tennis in my opinion, and you have to be mentally ready from the first point in matches like that. I do give him a lot of credit because when his back was against the wall, he did a nice job of resetting mentally, getting his mind right and playing a full second set."
Kellovsky dropped his match on court one 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 to clinch the match for A&M, but the Aggies and Sun Devils decided to play out the remaining two matches consisting of Ponwith and Roberts.
Roberts fell not long after in a gritty matchup. The Bahamian dropped his first set 7-5 but notched a 6-4 second set to force a match-deciding third set. The two chose to play a tiebreaker instead of a traditional set, but Roberts dropped it, 1-0.
"Justin played really well tonight despite not winning his 10-point third because his opponent was really playing some good tennis, it was really high-level stuff for the majority of the match," Hill said. "Even though he didn't get the match, I thought he showed he's progressing really well."
As the final Sun Devil still in play, Ponwith competed in a match that lasted nearly three hours after he dropped his first set 6-4 but came back to take set two, 7-6. Like Roberts, Ponwith and his opponent also traded a regular third set for a tiebreaker, taking a comeback 10-8 win for his second victory of the season to bring the team score to its final of 5-2.
"We know Nathan's opponent is one of the best in the country because he was an All-American last year," Hill said. "It was great to see him get this one tonight because his serve is really progressing and it was amazing to see that hard work paying off."
The Sun Devils are back in action this Sunday in the friendly confines of the Whiteman Tennis Center. ASU welcomes San Diego in their second home match of five this season, and fans can keep up with the action all season long by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.
ASU got off to a slow start in doubles play, dropping all first sets early on. All three matches were back-and-forth affairs, however, the Aggies slowly gained traction on courts one and three to eventually clinch the first point off victories on those courts.
Andrea Bolla and Benjamin Hannestad fell first by a final of 6-3 on court three in their first match together of the season. Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts came through to even the advantage with a win on court two, 6-4, to seal a comeback victory for the tandem. The pair has been on a hot streak as of late, winning four of their first five matches to begin the 2019 season.
"It was an average performance at best by Makey and Justin, and a big part of us being successful against these big teams is taking days where you're not playing so well and turning those into some level of performance to get us across the finish line" coach Matt Hill said. "I thought they did a great job at doing exactly that tonight."
The first point came down to a tense match on court one with No. 51 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith, who sat at deuce down 5-2 late in the affair. However, the pair was unable to overcome their opponent, dropping the match 6-3 to cede the doubles point for just the second time this season.
A&M sent four ranked players to the court for singles play with Ponwith up against No. 47 Valentin Vacherot, Roberts with No. 66 Barnaby Smith, Rakotomalala and No. 105 Austin Abbrat and Kellovsky against No. 121 Juan Carlos Aguilar.
Rakotomalala stepped up to even the score for the Sun Devils, taking a victory on court five in straight sets. The Frenchman took his first set by an easy 6-1 and then cruised to a 6-0 second set win for the equalizer, 1-1 to hand Abbrat his first loss of the season. However, A&M retook the lead off a win on court six over William Kirkman.
"Mack is playing really well right now because he's improved in key areas that are allowing him to play his own game more often," Hill said. "You're now seeing that in the results because he competed really well and was emotionally and mentally there point-to-point."
On court two, Bolla played an impressive match despite losing in straight sets 6-0, 7-6. He tied 3-3 midway through his second set and although he was down 6-5 at deuce, Bolla managed to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. He dropped that final game, 7-5. However, Hill has praised the Italian for his play as of late, and he echoed the same sentiment despite the loss.
"It was a little bit of a split performance tonight from Andrea because I think he carried his doubles loss with him into his first set," Hill said. "The kid that he played is one of the best players in college tennis in my opinion, and you have to be mentally ready from the first point in matches like that. I do give him a lot of credit because when his back was against the wall, he did a nice job of resetting mentally, getting his mind right and playing a full second set."
Kellovsky dropped his match on court one 6-0, 1-6, 6-2 to clinch the match for A&M, but the Aggies and Sun Devils decided to play out the remaining two matches consisting of Ponwith and Roberts.
Roberts fell not long after in a gritty matchup. The Bahamian dropped his first set 7-5 but notched a 6-4 second set to force a match-deciding third set. The two chose to play a tiebreaker instead of a traditional set, but Roberts dropped it, 1-0.
"Justin played really well tonight despite not winning his 10-point third because his opponent was really playing some good tennis, it was really high-level stuff for the majority of the match," Hill said. "Even though he didn't get the match, I thought he showed he's progressing really well."
As the final Sun Devil still in play, Ponwith competed in a match that lasted nearly three hours after he dropped his first set 6-4 but came back to take set two, 7-6. Like Roberts, Ponwith and his opponent also traded a regular third set for a tiebreaker, taking a comeback 10-8 win for his second victory of the season to bring the team score to its final of 5-2.
"We know Nathan's opponent is one of the best in the country because he was an All-American last year," Hill said. "It was great to see him get this one tonight because his serve is really progressing and it was amazing to see that hard work paying off."
The Sun Devils are back in action this Sunday in the friendly confines of the Whiteman Tennis Center. ASU welcomes San Diego in their second home match of five this season, and fans can keep up with the action all season long by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.