TEMPE – ASU Men's Tennis pulled off a thrilling 6-1 upset over 22nd-ranked Pepperdine on Friday evening, improving to 3-1 overall with a perfect home record. The excitement kicked off in doubles play with duos Max McKennon/Nathan Ponwith and Christian Lerby/George Stoupe winning both of their matches. In singles play, freshman McKennon notched the first point with a 6-2, 6-1 defeat over Pietro Fellin. The last four points came in impressive battles from seniors Andrea Bolla, Ponwith, Tim Ruehl and Stoupe.
Max McKennon comes up BIG with the Sun Devil's first singles point! Finishing 6-2, 6-1 on No. 5. pic.twitter.com/yHdPo9QUaz
— Sun Devil M. Tennis (@SunDevilMTennis) February 5, 2021
The victory proved head coach Matt Hill's squad is not one to be underestimated. With a talented 11-man roster, the Sun Devils are focused on cleaning up the basics and pushing each other forward as a team.
"To get out of here with a 6-1 win, and the one we lost was in a 10-point tie-breaker, I feel really good about that," said Hill. "It's a really good chemistry inside the group, so there's a lot of really good things going for us right now. We need to keep cleaning things up and keep getting guys as healthy as possible. It's been a good start so far, but we're just getting started, we got a lot in front of us still."
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How it happened
The Sun Devils clinched the doubles point thanks to strong play on courts two and three. Starting with a 6-3 victory by Lerby/Stoupe on No. 3., Ruehl/Bolla narrowly fell, 4-6, in the No. 1 spot, leaving Poniwth and McKennon on court two. The pair embraced the moment with open arms and handedly won 6-3 to put ASU up 1-0.
That first singles point came from McKennon's 6-2, 6-1 win on No. 5. ASU then secured three straight wins with Bolla, Stoupe and Ponwith on courts four, six and one. On No. 2, Makey Rakotomalala got off to a slow start falling 4-6 in the first set before rallying back to even things up with a 6-3 defeat in the second set. Rakotomalala's match came down to a tiebreaker, which ultimately fell in Pepperdine's favor, finishing 10-3. Ruehl brought the energy back up on court three with the rest of his team intently watching on the sidelines. After surrendering the first set 4-6, Ruehl kicked it into overdrive to secure the next two sets 6-1, 6-4.
Next Up
The Sun Devils finish off the weekend with a match against Northern Arizona at home on Sunday Feb. 7 at 3:00 p.m. MST. ASU then has one more chance to defend home courts against New Mexico State on Saturday Feb. 13 at 2:00 p.m. MST.
Feb 05, 2021 at Tempe, AZ
(Whiteman Tennis Center)
Arizona State 6, #22 PEPP 1
Singles competition
1. Nathan Ponwith (ASU) def. Oetzbach, Adrian (PEPP) 6-3, 6-3
2. Den Ouden, Guy (PEPP) def. Makey Rakotomalala (ASU) 6-4, 3-6, 10-3
3. Tim Ruehl (ASU) def. #90 Summaria, Corrado (PEPP) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
4. Andrea Bolla (ASU) def. Shelton, Robert (PEPP) 6-3, 6-3
5. Max McKennon (ASU) def. Fellin, Pietro (PEPP) 6-2, 6-1
6. George Stoupe (ASU) def. Jankowiak, Pawel (PEPP) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Den Ouden, Guy/Oetzbach, Adrian (PEPP) def. Tim Ruehl/Andrea Bolla (ASU) 6-4
2. Nathan Ponwith/Max McKennon (ASU) def. Summaria, Corrado/Shelton, Robert (PEPP) 6-3
3. Christian Lerby/George Stoupe (ASU) def. Fellin, Pietro/Jankowiak, Pawel (PEPP) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,4,6,1,2,3)