COLUMBUS, Ohio – Arizona State men's tennis dropped its match with No. 2 Ohio State, 6-1, on Friday evening at the Varsity Tennis Center.
"These are the teams we want to be competing with, and these are the teams we want to beat," coach Matt Hill said. "We're going to continue to push our guys because we know they can play at this level as well. It was just unfortunate that we weren't at full strength tonight, but that's ok."
ASU (2-4) held its own in doubles play, with all three courts tied at one apiece early on in the matchup. The Sun Devils sent two brand new tandems to the courts in Andrea Bolla/William Kirkman and Benjamin Hannestad/Nathan Ponwith, as Bolla and Hannestad both made their returns to the courts tonight after sitting out with minor injuries.
"Tonight we had two of our regulars starters out [Dominik Kellovsky and Tim Ruehl], so you've got new teams playing together and that's a factor," Hill said. "They haven't trained with each other as much, they don't know each other's tendencies as much so that makes it a little more challenging than when you've got your regular teams in that have been working together."
The pair of Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts made their court one debut tonight, but ultimately fell, 6-2, to give Ohio State the advantage in doubles. Bolla/Kirkman held a steady lead throughout doubles play, but also fell to a duo from the Buckeyes, 6-4.
"Being down 1-0 didn't really change anything because whether or not we had the doubles point, you're still a long ways from the finish line with a team like Ohio State," Hill said. "We were fine, ready, hungry and ready to go out to singles play and compete."
The Sun Devils headed into singles play down 1-0 for the first time this season, but returned Bolla and Hannestad in singles play with a few minor lineup adjustments.
"I thought they both looked pretty good, I thought they competed really well," coach Matt Hill said. "They played two really tough players, guys that really don't lose a lot."
No. 65 Ponwith made his court one debut against No. 2 JJ Wolf, but was not the only Sun Devil to face off against a ranked opponent. Roberts went up against No. 12 Kyle Seeling, Bolla against No. 62 John McNally and Rakotomalala faced No. 86 Alex Kobelt to total four ranked singles players for OSU, a team that has won the Big Ten Championships in 12 of the past 13 seasons.
"Ohio State made the finals of the National Championships last year, and they returned everyone except one player," Hill said. "They have an incredible team, they're really deep and there are really never any spots where you feel safe or comfortable."
Ohio State eventually pulled out to a 2-0 lead when Kobelt took a 6-3, 6-2 win over Rakotomalala on court five. Court four followed soon after when Hannestad dropped his match with Martin Joyce, 6-3, 6-1.
Kirkman played a back-and-forth matchup with Hunter Tuberts on court six, dropping his first set 6-2, but staying afloat in set two. Down 4-3 late, Kirkman eventually tied things up at five apiece, but dropped two straight games to fall, 6-2, 7-5. With the victory, the No. 2 Buckeyes clinched the victory over the Sun Devils.
The squads chose to play the remaining matches out, with Roberts taking the win over No. 12 Kyle Seeling to secure the Sun Devils their point. The match was a back-and-forth affair, as Roberts took the first set, 7-6. Seeling took the second set in a swift 6-0 fashion to even the advantage, but Roberts took the final set 1-0 (8) to secure the victory.
"I'm super proud of Justin to be able to finish off his match," Hill said. "That guy was the No. 12 guy in the country, and Justin had a little bit of a slow start to the season. It was a great match for him and he looked really good tonight."
Sun Devil men's tennis is back in action on Sunday in Bloomington, taking on the Indiana Hoosiers. Fans can keep up with the action by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.
"These are the teams we want to be competing with, and these are the teams we want to beat," coach Matt Hill said. "We're going to continue to push our guys because we know they can play at this level as well. It was just unfortunate that we weren't at full strength tonight, but that's ok."
ASU (2-4) held its own in doubles play, with all three courts tied at one apiece early on in the matchup. The Sun Devils sent two brand new tandems to the courts in Andrea Bolla/William Kirkman and Benjamin Hannestad/Nathan Ponwith, as Bolla and Hannestad both made their returns to the courts tonight after sitting out with minor injuries.
"Tonight we had two of our regulars starters out [Dominik Kellovsky and Tim Ruehl], so you've got new teams playing together and that's a factor," Hill said. "They haven't trained with each other as much, they don't know each other's tendencies as much so that makes it a little more challenging than when you've got your regular teams in that have been working together."
The pair of Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts made their court one debut tonight, but ultimately fell, 6-2, to give Ohio State the advantage in doubles. Bolla/Kirkman held a steady lead throughout doubles play, but also fell to a duo from the Buckeyes, 6-4.
"Being down 1-0 didn't really change anything because whether or not we had the doubles point, you're still a long ways from the finish line with a team like Ohio State," Hill said. "We were fine, ready, hungry and ready to go out to singles play and compete."
The Sun Devils headed into singles play down 1-0 for the first time this season, but returned Bolla and Hannestad in singles play with a few minor lineup adjustments.
"I thought they both looked pretty good, I thought they competed really well," coach Matt Hill said. "They played two really tough players, guys that really don't lose a lot."
No. 65 Ponwith made his court one debut against No. 2 JJ Wolf, but was not the only Sun Devil to face off against a ranked opponent. Roberts went up against No. 12 Kyle Seeling, Bolla against No. 62 John McNally and Rakotomalala faced No. 86 Alex Kobelt to total four ranked singles players for OSU, a team that has won the Big Ten Championships in 12 of the past 13 seasons.
"Ohio State made the finals of the National Championships last year, and they returned everyone except one player," Hill said. "They have an incredible team, they're really deep and there are really never any spots where you feel safe or comfortable."
Ohio State eventually pulled out to a 2-0 lead when Kobelt took a 6-3, 6-2 win over Rakotomalala on court five. Court four followed soon after when Hannestad dropped his match with Martin Joyce, 6-3, 6-1.
Kirkman played a back-and-forth matchup with Hunter Tuberts on court six, dropping his first set 6-2, but staying afloat in set two. Down 4-3 late, Kirkman eventually tied things up at five apiece, but dropped two straight games to fall, 6-2, 7-5. With the victory, the No. 2 Buckeyes clinched the victory over the Sun Devils.
The squads chose to play the remaining matches out, with Roberts taking the win over No. 12 Kyle Seeling to secure the Sun Devils their point. The match was a back-and-forth affair, as Roberts took the first set, 7-6. Seeling took the second set in a swift 6-0 fashion to even the advantage, but Roberts took the final set 1-0 (8) to secure the victory.
"I'm super proud of Justin to be able to finish off his match," Hill said. "That guy was the No. 12 guy in the country, and Justin had a little bit of a slow start to the season. It was a great match for him and he looked really good tonight."
Sun Devil men's tennis is back in action on Sunday in Bloomington, taking on the Indiana Hoosiers. Fans can keep up with the action by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.