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ASU Tennis: Sun Devils split a tough Big Ten road trip

By Jerry Walker

TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot 'Sparky' performs during 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: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot 'Sparky' performs during 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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After a big two-match win streak, in which no points were dropped, the ASU tennis team split a weekend trip to the Big Ten schools Ohio State and Indiana.

The Sun Devils started their trip against the No. 2 team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes showed why they are ranked so high with a dominating victory over the Sun Devils. Ohio State won the match 6-1, only dropping one singles point.

The only win for Arizona State came in huge upset fashion. Graduate student Justin Roberts beat No. 12 ranked singles player Kyle Seelig in a third set tiebreak. This match was a tale of two sets with Roberts winning the first set 7-6 before losing the second 0-6.

Despite the collapse in the second set Roberts managed to find his composure and win the tiebreak 10-8 sealing Arizona State’s only point of the day.

Beside Roberts’ victory the only match that wasn’t a sweep was the #1 Singles between ASU’s Nathan Ponwith and OSU’s JJ Wolf. The match was won by Wolf 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 1-0 (10-0).

The Buckeyes clinched the overall match with a win in No. 4 singles by Martin Joyce over Benjamin Hannestad 6-3, 6-1.

The scores for the other matches were: No. 1 Double Wolf/Joyce (OSU) beat Makey Rakotomalala/Justin Roberts (ASU) 6-2

No. 2 Doubles Alex Kobelt/James Trotter (OSU) beat Andrea Boolla/William Kirkman (ASU) 6-4

No. 2 Singles John McNally (OSU) beat Bolla (ASU) 6-4, 6-4

No. 5 Singles Kobelt (OSU) beat Rakotomalala (ASU) 6-3, 6-2

No. 6 Singles Hunter Tubert (OSU) beat Kirkman (ASU) 6-2, 6-5.

The Sun Devils put their rough match with the Buckeyes behind them as they went into Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Indiana Hoosiers. Unlike against OSU, the Sun Devils came out victorious. The Sun Devils won to match 4-2.

ASU started out the day by winning the doubles point due to wins in No. 1 Doubles by Rakotomalala/Roberts (ASU) over Brandon Lam/Patrick Fletchall (IND) 6-4 and in No. 2 Doubles Hannestad/Ponwith (ASU) over Bennett Crane/Carson Haskins (IND) 6-4.

Indiana bounced back by claiming the first singles point with a win by Haskins (IND) over Hannestad (ASU) 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 5 singles position.

ASU however, went on to win three of the next four matches to claim the overall win. The match that clinched the win was in the No. 6 singles position where Rakotomalala (ASU) beat Andrew Redding (IND) 6-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

The Hoosiers only other point came in a straight set win by Antonio Cembellin (IND) over Ponwith (ASU) 6-2, 7-7 (11-9) in No. 1 Singles. But, it was too little too late even as Roberts (ASU) was battling Zac Brodney (IND) 5-4 in the third set of the No. 3 Singles.

The other scores that helped the Sun Devils win the match were: No. 2 Singles Bolla (ASU) beat Crane (IND) 6-3, 6-3; and No. 4 Singles Tim Ruehl (ASU) beat Lam (IND) 6-4, 6-4.

Next. ASU Tennis: Sun Devils cruise past Pepperdine in home opener. dark

With the victory on Sunday, the Sun Devils improve their record to 3-4 on the season. The Sun Devils round out non-conference play with a match at Texas A&M on February 22 and a home match vs San Diego on February 24.