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ASU Men’s Tennis: Sun Devils fall short against Stanford

By Carson Roberts

TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot, 'Sparky' following the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot, 'Sparky' following the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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ASU men’s tennis lost 4-3 Thursday night to Stanford in their first Pac-12 match of the season snapping an eight-match winning streak.

The Sun Devils’ eight-game win streak was snapped Thursday evening by Stanford, a team ranked No. 3 in the most recent ITA poll.

Although Arizona State (8-4) came close, they could not pull off the upset against the Cardinal (11-1) in a 4-3 loss.

The game came down to the matchup on Court 4 between ASU freshman Tim Ruehl and Stanford graduate student Eric Fomba.

After taking a commanding 5-1 lead in the final set, Ruehl appeared to have the point in the bag. However, Fomba launched an unbelievable comeback, winning six consecutive games to win the point.

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The collapse quieted the raucous crowd after a stellar match between freshmen Benjamin Hannestad and Axel Geller.

In a night full of surprises, the Hannestad win might have been the biggest.

“The guy playing two for Stanford was the No. 1 player in the world and decided to go to college and [was] by far the best recruit in the United States,” ASU head coach Hill said. “For our guy to take him down … that’s a lot of mental toughness there.”

In addition to Hannestad’s win, the Sun Devils also managed to earn the doubles point.

After Timothy Sah and David Wilczynski defeated Hannestad and Thomas Wright 6-3, the Sun Devils found themselves down early.

On Court 2, Makey Rakotomalala and Andrea Bolla cruised to a 6-2 win over Geller and Tom Fawcett. The match tied up the doubles series at one game apiece.

Later, Michael Geerts and Ruehl earned a slim victory over Stanford’s Michael Genender and Sameer Kumar. The 6-4 victory on Court 1 sealed the point for the hosts.

The Sun Devils are fairly new to doubles success, frequently relying on singles points to win games.

When asked about the doubles point, Geerts said, “We mixed up the doubles teams a little bit and I think for us it was really positive.”

Geerts mentioned that the strong play in doubles will give the team confidence moving forward in matches against top-tier opponents.

Between the excitement of the doubles match and the epic finish was an assortment of panic-inducing singles matches.

Geerts and Wright each dropped their matches to Fawcett and William Genesen, respectively. The two singles points gave Stanford a 2-1 lead with plenty of action left.

The matchup between Rakotomalala and Kumar on Court 3 finished next. Rakotomalala bounced back after Kumar took a 3-1 lead in the second set.

Rakotomalala won the second set 6-4. However, Kumar took the final set 6-4 after a 3-3 tie.

Following the competitive match, Stanford held a 3-1 lead with three ongoing matches.

Bolla split the first two sets with Wilczynski before dominating in the tiebreaker. Bolla’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win helped the Sun Devils stay alive.

Then came an unforgettable ending. Nevertheless, Hill wants them to look past the loss and see the big picture.

“They forget that there’s 20 more matches to be played,” Hill said. “We didn’t get knocked out of the national championships just now.”

Next: ASU Tennis: Sun Devils win first tournament for new program

Following the loss, ASU will look to bounce back Saturday against the California Golden Bears.

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