Nathan Ponwith Season 2020-21

--Ponwith, Mehaffey earn 2020-21 Tom Hansen Pac-10 Medal

FEATURE: Scottsdale's Ponwith Finding Success at ASU (Story by Brandon Bonaparte, Sports360AZ.com/Jan. 20, 2021)
FEATURE: Homecoming Presents Opportunity for Ponwith and Men's Tennis
FEATURE: ‘Full circle:’ Ponwith thriving for ASU men’s tennis in homecoming season

QUICK STATS

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Nathan's Career-Highs in the Rankings
Ponwith at No. 32 (9/17/17)
Ponwith/Kellovsky at No. 8 (4/9/19)
 

Career Singles Stats
Year	Overall	Dual	Tournament	Pac-12	vs. Ranked
2016-17	22-15	13-10	9-5	8-3 (SEC)	6-12
2017-18	20-12	12-6	8-6	6-4 (SEC)	0-1
2018-19	13-10	10-10	3-0	2-3	6-8
2019-20	0-2	0-2	0-0	0-0	0-0
2020-21	15-10	14-10	1-0	4-5	6-6
TOTAL	70-49	49-38	21-11	16-10	18-26

AT ARIZONA STATE

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SENIOR (2020-21)

• Won the ITA's Southwest Region Most Improved Senior award, and went on to win the overall ITA Most Improved Senior award.  
• Made it to round one of the NCAA singles championship where he lost to eventual tournament champion Sam Riffice of No. 1 Florida.
• Peak at No. 84 in the Oracle/ITA Singles rankings.
• Earned First Team All-Conference honors after going 15-9 in singles and 13-9 in doubles. 
• Won the deciding point in ASU's Pac-12 Tournament opening match against UCLA, winning three sets to give ASU its first win over the Bruins since the program's reinstatement and giving UCLA it's first ever first-round exit.
• Won in straight sets over No. 93 Axel Geller is ASU's second-round Pac-12 Tournament match against Stanford to tie the match at 3-3 before Max McKennon pushed the team to the championship match. 
• Went 14-9 at No. 1 singles, kicking off the year with a six-match winning streak.
• Earned seven victories against ranked opponents
• Strung together six-straight wins playing alongside Max McKennon and George Stoupe in doubles.

 

SENIOR (2019-20)

• Season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, granted an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA
• Elected to take the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA and will return in 2021
• Sat out the beginning of the season due to injury, but made his season debut against No. 27 Baylor (3/7)

JUNIOR (2018-19)

• Earned second-team all-conference honors.
• Became Arizona State's highest-ranked doubles pair in over 25 years (since 1991) when he and Dominik Kellovsky earned a No. 8 nod in the April 9 edition of the Oracle/ITA ranking
• Began the season on a hot streak in tandem with Kellovsky, notching wins in their first three matches as a pair
• Hit the rankings with Kellovsky at No. 51 on February 22 and never fell out, peaking at No. 8
• Got off to a slow singles start in his first season as a Sun Devil, going 2-4 in his first six matches
• Earned his first ranked win at ASU over No. 47 Valentin Vacherot of Texas A&M, defeating the Aggie 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 1-0 (10-8) in College Station (2/22)
• Clinched the Sun Devils' first win over a top-25 opponent since reinstatement, gliding past No. 37 Mattias Siimar of No. 13 Michigan 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-4 (3/15)
• Notched a huge doubles upset victory in tandem with Kellovsky over No. 1 Jimmy Bendeck / Sven Lah of Baylor (3/22)
• Earned a bid to the NCAA Doubles National Championships in tandem with Dominik Kellovsky, bowing out in the first round after 6-2, 6-4 loss to No. 11 Mazen Osama/Patrick Kaukovalta of Alabama (5/21)

AT GEORGIA (2016-18)

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• Had a stellar freshman year for the Bulldogs, as he was the 2017 SEC Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-SEC as Georgia's court one
• Set a SEC record for the most Freshman of the Week honors in a single season with five
• Played a crucial role to Georgia's lineup, notching a 22-15 overall record (10-7 SEC) and collected a team-best six match clinchers including against South Carolina to seal Georgia's share of the 2017 SEC Championship

PRIOR TO GEORGIA

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HIGH SCHOOL

• Was the No. 1 player nationally in the 2016 signing class according to tennisrecruiting.net
• A top-50 amateur player in the word and reached a career-high No. 20 ITF ranking

PERSONAL

• Brother, James, played tennis at San Diego
• His father, Jesse, is a former men's No. 1 ranked player nationally in the Men's 35s, has captured numerous gold, silver and bronze balls from participating in age group divisions, and is a multiple-time section champion in the 5.0 adult level as well as the 9.0 and 10.0 mixed while his mother, Pam, won a USTA League National team championship in the 4.5 40 & Over division in 2013 and a national championship gold ball that year with son James at the USTA Mother/Son Clay Court Championships in 2013
• The Ponwith family (mother, Pam, father, Jesse and brother, James) were named the 2015 Ralph W. Westcott USTA Family of the Year for their outstanding contribution to community tennis
• Grew up attending Arizona State women's tennis matches as a kid