After being on the verge of cracking the top 10 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ranking and riding a three-match win streak, ASU men's tennis suffered a 4-0 setback against UA in the finals of the Diablos College Invitational.
The loss dropped the Sun Devils down to No. 17, while their rivals down south rose two spots ahead of ASU at No. 15. While the rankings are important, early-season results can cause teams to fluctuate wildly around the Top 25, and it's been the same for the Sun Devils.
ASU entered the season unranked before multiple top-10 wins propelled it onto the map, but its position in college tennis only begins to become significant once conference play starts on March 20.
"We also know that it doesn't matter, the fourth of February, what's your ranking," redshirt senior Mathis Bondaz said. "What matters is just after the Big 12 Tournament, it's gonna be our ranking for the NCAA."
Although it isn't the Sun Devils' primary objective right now, they do have a golden opportunity to prove their mettle in the upcoming weeks. ASU faces No. 27 Pepperdine, who handed the Sun Devils their first defeat of the season, and No. 10 Baylor at the UTR Championships from March 13-15.
Following that tournament, four of ASU's eight Big 12 games feature top-15 opponents - No. 7 TCU, rematches against Baylor and UA, and No. 9 UCF to close out the regular season.
"It's all rankings," sophomore Milos Mikovic said. "Everything's on the paper. It doesn't really mean much. The first 25 everybody's switching week to week, but definitely, it's a very big assignment to play against teams that (are) highly ranked and to believe that we can beat them."
That belief stems from the Sun Devils' success earlier in the year, with two wins over San Diego, a top 10 team at the time, and a 4-3 thriller against then-No. 16 Clemson. Losses to SMU and UA, however, have the coaching staff looking beyond outcomes and toward the overall quality of play.
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For head coach Matt Hill, the term he uses to describe this growth is "progressional development," which encompasses how players respond to challenges against heightened competition and improve their understanding of match flow.
"Just managing the matches a little better to where they're playing point to point at a higher level, more consistently," Hill said. "Simplifying the doubles, simplifying some of the tactics and not making it overly complicated."
The doubles point has been ASU's biggest shortcoming this season, losing it in eight of their past 10 outings, but it's the singles where Hill and his assistants are attempting to push this group outside of their comfort zone.
Bondaz, for example, is set to graduate in two months and has aspirations to play professionally. To achieve that objective, Hill has been working with Bondaz to change his style of play from an ultra-physical grinder who depletes his opponents over time to a player who can take the ball early, come to the net and shorten points.
Bondaz mentioned how taxing his playstyle is on his body, and how he's been watching professional athletes with similar styles to his to spur those changes, including David Ferrer and Alex de Minaur.
"It's a whole new way of thinking, and it's not easy at all, but I think it's super important because, as I say, I want to play in the biggest stage of the world, and I need to be able to do that," Bondaz said.
Heading into these top 15 matchups, the coaching staff's main intent is to cultivate a "secondary strategy" for each player, zoning in on weaknesses. It's not just about individual refinement but how those independent modifications can boost the Sun Devils as a whole.
"If we want to take another step forward as a team, and really be able to beat, consistently, some of the top teams in the country ... they're gonna have to get better at this, this and this," Hill said. "In order to do that, they've got to get uncomfortable."
Pepperdine is ASU's first chance at showcasing its ability to change tactics and stray into uncomfortable territory. Although the Sun Devils suffered a sweep against them on Feb. 1, those matchups didn't feature junior Bor Artnak or sophomore Ofek Shimanov, two of ASU's top players.
A rematch could be the perfect way for the Sun Devils to segue between their default settings and a new playstyle, but it's the execution that ASU has to nail.
"We have so much work, so many matches, so many opportunities," Bondaz said. "We're going to try to get ready as much as we can to play and beat this team, because if we beat all of them, then we have a big chance to be top 10 and to host here, and that's one of our goals."
Edited by Alan Deutschendorf, Jack McCarthy and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at pvallur2@asu.edu and follow @PrathamValluri on X.
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Pratham Valluri is a sports reporter at The State Press. He is a junior majoring in sports journalism with business and data analytics minors. He’s in his 5th semester with The State Press working previously as an opinion writer.
