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ASU women's tennis defeats Denver, men's tennis wins doubleheader

Men's marquee doubles pairing shines, women's victory decided by the final match

Tennis Recap.jpg

ASU now-senior Makey Rakotomalala celebrates his point win during his doubles match with ASU graduate student Justin Roberts vs Pepperdine on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019 in Tempe.


Both the men's and women's tennis teams shone in Sunday's competitions, with the No. 44 women's team defeating No. 42 Denver and the No. 32 men's team winning both games of a doubleheader against Washington and Grand Canyon. 


Women's team

The women's team won against Denver 4-3, with the game decided on a thrilling match that went the distance.

Sophomore Lauryn John-Baptiste and Anna Riedmiller went toe-to-toe to decide the game. The two went to a third set tiebreaker and traded points before John-Baptiste secured the win 7-6. 

John-Baptiste also won her doubles match with junior Ilze Hattingh 6-3, continuing their strong campaign as the No. 3 women's doubles pair in the nation.

Freshman Samantha Alicea and redshirt junior Sammi Hampton, the No. 61 women's doubles pairing, won their match 6-2.  

Hattingh and Hampton lost their singles matches in straight sets, while Alicea and sophomore Tereza Kolarova won both of their respective singles games in straight sets.

Junior Savannah Slaysman won the first set of her match 7-5, but dropped the next two games 6-7 and 3-6 to lose the match.


Men's team

The men's team played a double-header versus Washington and Grand Canyon. The team won both matches, winning 4-0 against Washington and 4-1 against Grand Canyon. 

Junior Dominik Kellovsky and junior Nathan Ponwith, the No. 9 men's doubles pair in the nation, continued their stellar play with a 7-6 versus No. 52 Jack Davis and Piers Foley.

The pair went into a tiebreaker against the Huskies' pair after trading points back and forth. They dropped to as low as 3-6 in the tie-breaker, but the duo came back, scoring five consecutive points to win the set 8-6 to win.

Their win was also the deciding factor in the Sun Devils winning the doubles point against the Huskies. 

"We were trying to do our best to play just ball by ball," Kellovsky said. "And we did. I'm happy ... that we went to the singles with a 1-0 up."

Sophomores Tim Ruehl and Andrea Bolla won their doubles match 6-3 versus Kawika Lam and Enzo Sommer.

Graduate student Justin Roberts and sophomore Benjamin Hannestad were the only Sun Devils who came away with a loss in the doubles matches, falling 4-6.

For the singles matches, Ponwith and Kellovsky continued their momentum, both winning their matches in straight sets. 

Junior Makey Rakotomalala's win in straight sets secured the match victory versus Washington. 

Kellovsky and Ponwith carried their momentum over versus Grand Canyon, where the pair won against Lorenzo Fucile and Mathieu Rajaonah 6-3, marking their fifth straight win.

The pairs of Roberts - Hannestad and Ruehl - Bolla went to tiebreakers in their games. Ruehl and Bolla won their set 7-2, clinching the win. Their win led Roberts and Hannestad's match to be abandoned, which ended 9-8 out of their favor in the tie-breaking round. 

In singles, Ponwith and Kellovsky won both of their respective games in straight sets. 

Bolla went on to win his singles match in three sets, sealing the victory for the Sun Devils.

The women's team will take on Oregon for its next match on April 14 at 11 a.m. MST. The men's team will face Utah on April 13 at 1 p.m. MST. 


Reach the reporter at jhorst2@asu.edu and follow @HorseySeven on Twitter.

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Jeffrey HorstDigital editor-in-chief

Jeffrey Horst is the digital editor-in-chief of The State Press. He previously served as the publication's sports editor and worked at Cronkite News and ArizonaSports.com.


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