WACO, Texas – No. 35 Sun Devil men's tennis came out victorious in game one of their Friday double-header, notching a timely 4-0 sweep of Incarnate Word in under an hour-and-a-half. No. 55
Nathan Ponwith clinched the match for ASU, his second match-clinching point of the season.
ASU got ready bright and early for game one, with first serve at 10 a.m. local time (8 a.m. MST) in Waco. The Sun Devils and Cardinals faced off at the Hurd Tennis Center on the Baylor campus in a singles-first, clinch-clinch match to get the day started.
"I thought we were sharp today and we did what we needed to do to get the job done," coach
Matt Hill said. "We have a lot of tennis to play today so I was really happy that we played some clean matches."
The Sun Devils jumped on the Cardinals early, with five of six courts taking first-set wins.
Justin Roberts and
Andrea Bolla both made quick work of their opponents, registering singles wins in just under an hour.
"Andrea and Justin have both been playing and training really well and today was just a byproduct of that," Hill said. "They've both been looking really good lately, and it's not easy to beat anyone with the scoreline they did. It takes a lot of execution and focus, so it was great to see them be able to do that."
Bolla got ASU on the board first with a 6-1, 6-0 win and Roberts followed minutes later with his own straight-set win, 6-0, 6-1. The win was the Bahamian's third in a row while Bolla snapped a two-match losing streak with the quick bag.
Moving forward with a 2-0 advantage and three of four courts holding second set leads,
Makey Rakotomalala was the next man up for ASU, taking a 6-3, 6-1 win on court five. The Frenchman also snapped a two-match losing streak with the win.
"Makey is trying to focus on who he is as a player, and I thought he did a good job of that today," Hill said. "He's just trying to keep it simple out there."
William Kirkman jumped back into the lineup for game one, taking his place on court six. Kirkman was the lone Sun Devil to drop his first set, but showed major heart in set two, going down 4-2 early but battling back to take a 5-4 lead. The Dominican would ultimately go unfinished 2-6, 5-4.
"He wasn't at 100% today, but he competed and did what he needed to do to help the team." Hill said. "He gave himself the best chance possible even though he wasn't playing particularly well because he isn't at 100%."
It was Ponwith who stepped up to clinch his second match of the season for ASU with his first coming in the Sun Devils' win over No. 13 Michigan last weekend. The Scottsdale-native took his first set 6-4 after playing from a 3-0 deficit and powered through his second set 6-2 for the match clinching win.
"He had a little bit of a slow start and then he really dialed it in and got back to the tennis we've been seeing him play," Hill said. "His opponent was a really tough player, but once Nathan is locked in, he's tough for anyone to beat."
The clinch left
Tim Ruehl unfinished on court four holding a 6-4, 4-1 lead.
The Sun Devils are back in action later this evening for game day of their double-header against No. 6 Baylor. First serve is set for 5 p.m. MST, and fans can keep up with the action with the links above or by following @SunDevilMTennis on Twitter.
