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ASU Tennis: Sun Devils struggle in loss to Texas A&M

By Carson Field

TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky spikes the pitchfork at center field after the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Arizona State Sun Devils beat the Colorado Buffaloes 48-23. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - OCTOBER 10: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky spikes the pitchfork at center field after the college football game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Sun Devil Stadium on October 10, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Arizona State Sun Devils beat the Colorado Buffaloes 48-23. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) /
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ASU tennis dropped to 0-2 on the year today at the hands of the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies, losing 6-1 to their SEC opponent.

After dropping its first match of the year Saturday, Arizona State tennis lost once again, this time to the seventh-ranked Texas A&M Aggies by a score of 6-1.

A&M took six of the seven points awarded in the match, including the doubles point. The Benjamin Hannestad/Tim Ruehl and Andrea Bolla/Thomas Wright duos fell to Juan Carlos Aguilar/Jordi Arconada and Patrick Kypson/Barnaby Smith, respectively.

ASU’s Makey Rakotomalala and Michael Geerts did not finish their doubles match against Arthur Rinderknech and AJ Catanzariti because the other two matches had been concluded, but the duo was trailing 5-6 at the stoppage. Rakotomalala said he is disappointed the team did not win the doubles point but saw improvement today.

“We were close today to winning this doubles point,” Rakotomalala said. “It’s very crucial to win this doubles point, so I’m disappointed, but we did better than yesterday, so I’m okay with that.”

The team’s performance deteriorated in the singles portion, dropping five of the six solo matches.

Rakotomalala was the only Sun Devil to win his match, defeating Arconada 7-6, 2-6, 2-6 in No. 3 singles.

None of the other Sun Devils extended their respective matches into more than two sets.

After sitting out yesterday with sickness, Pierre Louis Dodens made his ASU debut today, falling to Aguilar 2-6, 4-6. Despite dropping today’s match, Dodens said it was a great beginning of his college career.

“It was great,” Dodens said. “It’s the first match, the conditions, the crowd and everything, but yeah, it was great.”

ASU hosts another top 10 opponent next week in No. 10 TCU. The Horned Frogs won the Big 12 in 2017, and the team is once again picked to win the conference.

Although the team dropped both of its first two matches, Rakotomalala said the preparation is the same for TCU.

“The same thing we did like the last two semesters,” Rakotomalala said. “Working hard, playing balls. We have a pretty good team, but we need to practice harder, but I’m very confident.”

Next: ASU Tennis: Sun Devils fall to Blue Devils in first match since 2008

Sunday’s contest with the Horned Frogs begins at noon at Whiteman Tennis Center, and the match can be seen on the ASU Live Stream.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.