LOS ANGELES, Calif. – No. 27/23 Sun Devil men's tennis secured their 10th-straight doubles point and Andrea Bolla added his fifth-straight win as the squad fell to No. 10 USC, 4-2, on Saturday evening at the Marks Tennis Center. The match represented the final regular season match for the team as they now set their sights toward the Pac-12 Championships next week.
The Sun Devils clinched the doubles point through two-straight doubles wins, with Justin Roberts/Makey Rakotomalala starting off on a high note. The pair glided to an easy 6-3 win on court three to turn the momentum in ASU's favor.
No. 11 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith battled their second top-10 matchup of the weekend in doubles, this time facing off the Trojan duo of No. 8 Brandon Holt/Riley Smith. The pair sat tied 3-all halfway through, falling behind 5-4 late. The match went unfinished after the Devils duo on court two clinched the first point with a victory.
Tim Ruehl/Bolla came through for ASU, trading blows with the Trojan duo in a gritty matchup. Bolla/Ruehl went up 3-2 and transferred that into a 5-3 lead late, but USC flipped the momentum by tying it at 6-all to force a breaker. The ASU tandem came out on top in the breaker 7-3 to put the Sun Devils up 1-0 heading into singles play.
ASU sent the same lineup to the courts for singles play as they did Friday evening, with Bolla highlighting singles play for ASU. The Italian won his fifth-straight this afternoon with a straight-sets win over R. Smith. Bolla never played from a deficit in his first set, taking it 6-4.
His momentum slowed in set two, going down 2-1 early. He fell behind 5-4 late, but fought to win two-straight games to tie at 5-all. Bolla then kicked things into overdrive for the win, eventually pulling out a 6-4, 7-5 victory for ASU.
Bolla managed the only singles win of the evening as the Trojans took four singles wins on courts one, two, three and six to clinch the 4-2 win.
The Sun Devils are back in action on Wednesday for day one of the 2019 Pac-12 Championships with brackets to be released Monday. Fans can keep up with all the action of the postseason by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.
The Sun Devils clinched the doubles point through two-straight doubles wins, with Justin Roberts/Makey Rakotomalala starting off on a high note. The pair glided to an easy 6-3 win on court three to turn the momentum in ASU's favor.
No. 11 Dominik Kellovsky/Nathan Ponwith battled their second top-10 matchup of the weekend in doubles, this time facing off the Trojan duo of No. 8 Brandon Holt/Riley Smith. The pair sat tied 3-all halfway through, falling behind 5-4 late. The match went unfinished after the Devils duo on court two clinched the first point with a victory.
Tim Ruehl/Bolla came through for ASU, trading blows with the Trojan duo in a gritty matchup. Bolla/Ruehl went up 3-2 and transferred that into a 5-3 lead late, but USC flipped the momentum by tying it at 6-all to force a breaker. The ASU tandem came out on top in the breaker 7-3 to put the Sun Devils up 1-0 heading into singles play.
ASU sent the same lineup to the courts for singles play as they did Friday evening, with Bolla highlighting singles play for ASU. The Italian won his fifth-straight this afternoon with a straight-sets win over R. Smith. Bolla never played from a deficit in his first set, taking it 6-4.
His momentum slowed in set two, going down 2-1 early. He fell behind 5-4 late, but fought to win two-straight games to tie at 5-all. Bolla then kicked things into overdrive for the win, eventually pulling out a 6-4, 7-5 victory for ASU.
Bolla managed the only singles win of the evening as the Trojans took four singles wins on courts one, two, three and six to clinch the 4-2 win.
The Sun Devils are back in action on Wednesday for day one of the 2019 Pac-12 Championships with brackets to be released Monday. Fans can keep up with all the action of the postseason by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.