FORT WORTH, Texas – Sophomore Andrea Bolla extended his hot streak to six-straight wins this evening, taking a victory to clinch the Sun Devils' 4-0 sweep over No. 33 Miami in the First Round of the 2019 Men's Tennis NCAA Tournament.
"I thought it was definitely our best match of the year," coach Matt Hill said. "It was a complete match and competitive at all spots. This was a team win. I thought everybody did a really great job whether they were off the court or inside the match."
With the win, the squad will advance to the second round for the first time since the 2004 season after taking their eighth blanking win of 2019. The 4-0 win is also the first NCAA Tournament sweep for the squad since 1999 when they swept both Hofstra and Pepperdine in Tempe to advance to the Round of 16.
"We knew it could be an amazing year at the beginning of the year, but there were a lot of hurdles and things we had do get through to get here but we're here now," Hill said. "We're excited, feeling good and trusting in ourselves and eachother which is a good thing."
ASU (14-13) dominated the Hurricanes from the beginning, taking their 18th doubles point of the season with wins on courts one and three. Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts notched their 12th win on the season as a pair, gliding past a duo from Miami 6-3. No. 17 Nathan Ponwith/Dominik Kellovsky then clutched up a tiebreaker win 7-6 (1) to clinch the first point for ASU.
"We really haven't lost on court two very often, but everybody has a bad day," Hill said. "Our trust in our doubles is not a fake trust because we know how good they are. They've been doing it all season long."
Heading into singles play with a 1-0 lead, the Sun Devils easily transferred that momentum, taking first set victories on all six singles courts. The squad took off and never looked back as Tim Ruehl defeated No. 87 Bojan Jankulovski easily in straight-sets 6-2, 6-0. The German went up 3-2 in his first set and used nine-straight game points to take the easy victory to increase the ASU lead to 2-0.
"He did a great job because he didn't play particularly well in doubles, but he did a great job of mentally turning it around," Hill said. "He really dialed in and beat by far one of their best players, probably their second-best player. It wasn't close."
Rakotomalala followed suit soon after with his team-leading 12th victory of the season, effectively ending a two-match losing streak with his 6-3, 6-4 win. The Frenchman has now won three of his last six decisions and is looking to turn the tide with a run.
"Our transition from doubles to singles was by far the best transition we've had all year," Hill said.
With four courts still left in action, all four were relatively close to a possible clinch. At Rakotomalala's victory, Ponwith and Kellovsky both sat at a one-game deficit, needing just two points to clinch while Roberts sat in a tiebreak.
"It takes a ton of pressure off us because we felt like we were mathematically in control of the match as long as we continue to make good decisions and stay poised," Hill said.
With his sixth-straight victory, Bolla fought tooth and nail to come back from a 4-1 deficit in his first set, taking five-straight game points to win 6-4. Tying at 5-all late in set two, Bolla kicked things into overdrive, taking two games points to clinch the Sun Devil victory, 4-0.
"He was incredible," Hill said. "His mental toughness over the course of the last 18 months has grown leaps and bounds. Some of that is him understanding his own game better which gives him that clarity in what to do and some of that is a lot of hard work on his part."
The Sun Devils are back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m. against TCU for the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Fans can keep up with the action all season-long by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.
"I thought it was definitely our best match of the year," coach Matt Hill said. "It was a complete match and competitive at all spots. This was a team win. I thought everybody did a really great job whether they were off the court or inside the match."
With the win, the squad will advance to the second round for the first time since the 2004 season after taking their eighth blanking win of 2019. The 4-0 win is also the first NCAA Tournament sweep for the squad since 1999 when they swept both Hofstra and Pepperdine in Tempe to advance to the Round of 16.
"We knew it could be an amazing year at the beginning of the year, but there were a lot of hurdles and things we had do get through to get here but we're here now," Hill said. "We're excited, feeling good and trusting in ourselves and eachother which is a good thing."
ASU (14-13) dominated the Hurricanes from the beginning, taking their 18th doubles point of the season with wins on courts one and three. Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts notched their 12th win on the season as a pair, gliding past a duo from Miami 6-3. No. 17 Nathan Ponwith/Dominik Kellovsky then clutched up a tiebreaker win 7-6 (1) to clinch the first point for ASU.
"We really haven't lost on court two very often, but everybody has a bad day," Hill said. "Our trust in our doubles is not a fake trust because we know how good they are. They've been doing it all season long."
Heading into singles play with a 1-0 lead, the Sun Devils easily transferred that momentum, taking first set victories on all six singles courts. The squad took off and never looked back as Tim Ruehl defeated No. 87 Bojan Jankulovski easily in straight-sets 6-2, 6-0. The German went up 3-2 in his first set and used nine-straight game points to take the easy victory to increase the ASU lead to 2-0.
"He did a great job because he didn't play particularly well in doubles, but he did a great job of mentally turning it around," Hill said. "He really dialed in and beat by far one of their best players, probably their second-best player. It wasn't close."
Rakotomalala followed suit soon after with his team-leading 12th victory of the season, effectively ending a two-match losing streak with his 6-3, 6-4 win. The Frenchman has now won three of his last six decisions and is looking to turn the tide with a run.
"Our transition from doubles to singles was by far the best transition we've had all year," Hill said.
With four courts still left in action, all four were relatively close to a possible clinch. At Rakotomalala's victory, Ponwith and Kellovsky both sat at a one-game deficit, needing just two points to clinch while Roberts sat in a tiebreak.
"It takes a ton of pressure off us because we felt like we were mathematically in control of the match as long as we continue to make good decisions and stay poised," Hill said.
With his sixth-straight victory, Bolla fought tooth and nail to come back from a 4-1 deficit in his first set, taking five-straight game points to win 6-4. Tying at 5-all late in set two, Bolla kicked things into overdrive, taking two games points to clinch the Sun Devil victory, 4-0.
"He was incredible," Hill said. "His mental toughness over the course of the last 18 months has grown leaps and bounds. Some of that is him understanding his own game better which gives him that clarity in what to do and some of that is a lot of hard work on his part."
The Sun Devils are back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m. against TCU for the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Fans can keep up with the action all season-long by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.