STANFORD, Calif. – Sun Devil men's tennis opened up conference play on the road today, travelling to the Bay Area to take on No. 7 Stanford. The men dropped the match with the top-10 team, 4-0 on Friday evening.
"Stanford is good at what they do," Hill said. "This is another tough learning lesson for these guys that their tactical and mental disciplines have to be much stronger."
The Sun Devils sent their usual three doubles pairs in No. 49 Nathan Ponwith/Dominik Kellovsky, No. 55 Justin Roberts/Makey Rakotomalala and No. 39 Tim Ruehl/Andrea Bolla.
All three tandems sat tied at 1-1 early on, with courts one and three consistently trading leads with the Cardinal. Stanford took a win on court two to pull out to an advantage, a point at which ASU led 4-3 on both remaining courts. The pairs transferred that into 5-4 leads, but the Cardinal battled back to take a win on court one to take the first point.
"We had some missed opportunities at two doubles early on," coach Matt Hill said. "At one doubles, I feel like we didn't serve as well as we have been which made it tough on ourselves even though we were right there. Three doubles was the same deal with not enough first serves and playing from behind."
ASU got off to a slow start in singles play, as Roberts was the lone Sun Devil to win his first set. While Ponwith hit the rankings again this time around at No. 74, Stanford sent four ranked players to the courts in the No. 8, No. 32, No. 35 and No. 56-ranked players in Division I tennis. That included the likes of No. 8 Axel Geller, whom Benjamin Hannestad upset last season with a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory.
"We're not getting consistence performance out of the same guys, so it makes it really challenging to know what you're going to expect," Hill said. "They can't go patches of smart tennis where they're competing well and then patches where they're not. It doesn't work like that when you're plating a top-10 team."
Rakotomalala fell first on court six, dropping his match 6-1, 6-2. Kellovsky battled his opponent into a tiebreaker on the first set, but too dropped his match 7-6 (2), 6-1. One point away from clinching the victory, the Cardinal took a win on court two over Ponwith to secure the 4-0 victory.
"If you want to beat top-10 teams, it takes more focus on the choices that they're making with their tactics and more discipline with their mind as it relates to focus, concentration and emotional control," Hill said. "These are things the top-10 teams do very well."
With the clinch, Bolla was left unfinished with a lead, 5-4, in his second set after dropping his first. The Italian went head-to-head with the highest ranked opponent he's faced this season tonight in No. 56 William Genesen, and kept up with the Cardinal after making some adjustments.
"Andrea did a good job in the second set of resetting, coming out to play and coming back to his style of play," Hill said. "I felt like his arousal level was a little low in the first set, and consequently he didn't play as well as he had been playing. I was impressed with the way he managed his second set because he was looking much better with what he was doing and trying to do on the court."
The Sun Devils are back in action tomorrow afternoon, driving about an hour north to take on Cal. Fans can keep up with the action all season-long by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.
"Stanford is good at what they do," Hill said. "This is another tough learning lesson for these guys that their tactical and mental disciplines have to be much stronger."
The Sun Devils sent their usual three doubles pairs in No. 49 Nathan Ponwith/Dominik Kellovsky, No. 55 Justin Roberts/Makey Rakotomalala and No. 39 Tim Ruehl/Andrea Bolla.
All three tandems sat tied at 1-1 early on, with courts one and three consistently trading leads with the Cardinal. Stanford took a win on court two to pull out to an advantage, a point at which ASU led 4-3 on both remaining courts. The pairs transferred that into 5-4 leads, but the Cardinal battled back to take a win on court one to take the first point.
"We had some missed opportunities at two doubles early on," coach Matt Hill said. "At one doubles, I feel like we didn't serve as well as we have been which made it tough on ourselves even though we were right there. Three doubles was the same deal with not enough first serves and playing from behind."
ASU got off to a slow start in singles play, as Roberts was the lone Sun Devil to win his first set. While Ponwith hit the rankings again this time around at No. 74, Stanford sent four ranked players to the courts in the No. 8, No. 32, No. 35 and No. 56-ranked players in Division I tennis. That included the likes of No. 8 Axel Geller, whom Benjamin Hannestad upset last season with a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory.
"We're not getting consistence performance out of the same guys, so it makes it really challenging to know what you're going to expect," Hill said. "They can't go patches of smart tennis where they're competing well and then patches where they're not. It doesn't work like that when you're plating a top-10 team."
Rakotomalala fell first on court six, dropping his match 6-1, 6-2. Kellovsky battled his opponent into a tiebreaker on the first set, but too dropped his match 7-6 (2), 6-1. One point away from clinching the victory, the Cardinal took a win on court two over Ponwith to secure the 4-0 victory.
"If you want to beat top-10 teams, it takes more focus on the choices that they're making with their tactics and more discipline with their mind as it relates to focus, concentration and emotional control," Hill said. "These are things the top-10 teams do very well."
With the clinch, Bolla was left unfinished with a lead, 5-4, in his second set after dropping his first. The Italian went head-to-head with the highest ranked opponent he's faced this season tonight in No. 56 William Genesen, and kept up with the Cardinal after making some adjustments.
"Andrea did a good job in the second set of resetting, coming out to play and coming back to his style of play," Hill said. "I felt like his arousal level was a little low in the first set, and consequently he didn't play as well as he had been playing. I was impressed with the way he managed his second set because he was looking much better with what he was doing and trying to do on the court."
The Sun Devils are back in action tomorrow afternoon, driving about an hour north to take on Cal. Fans can keep up with the action all season-long by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.