This week, ASU men's tennis lost 6-1 to UA in Tucson, while the women's team got back on track with a 4-0 win over Rice.
Men's tennis
ASU men's tennis was walloped 6-1 by No. 19 UA on Saturday afternoon at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in Tucson.
The cross-state rivals were the better team today with the Sun Devils only winning two sets the whole match, both courtesy of freshman Murphy Cassone, who had the only win of the day in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) against Wildcat Gustaf Strom.
In doubles, the usual deadly tandems of co-captains Fabien Salle and Max McKennon, and Cassone and Jacob Bullard couldn't get anything going.
Salle and McKennon lost 6-3 against Wildcats Herman Hoeyeraal and Jonas Ziverts, while Cassone and Bullard were pummeled 6-2 by Jared Horwood and Colton Smith.
Singles didn't bring any hope for the Sun Devils, who were outmatched by the Wildcats.
Salle lost in straight sets (6-3, 7-6) to Ziverts, while McKennon couldn't get anything going either, losing (6-4, 6-4) to Smith.
While Cassone won his match in straight sets, his doubles partner, Bullard, could not replicate his success, losing in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) to Hoeyeraal.
Junior George Stoupe and sophomore Spencer Brachman both lost in straight sets to seal the win for the top-25 Wildcats.
The Sun Devils look to change their luck against Cal on Friday in Tempe at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
Women's tennis
ASU women's tennis broke a three-game losing streak on Saturday with a 4-0 sweep over Rice at Whiteman Tennis Center.
The victory was a much-needed bounce back for ASU. The squad fell to a 1-4 record in conference play following a close 3-4 road loss to Oregon earlier in the week.
The Sun Devils started off on the right foot versus Oregon, taking the doubles point after wins from senior Sedona Gallagher and sophomore Giulia Morlet (6-4), and sophomore Natasha Hill and senior Cali Jankowski (6-2).
The women could not capitalize in singles with only wins from Gallagher (6-2, 6-2) and Jankowski (6-2, 6-1).
Saturday went as perfectly as it could have for ASU. The team welcomed back sophomore Marianna Argyrokastriti for the first time since February. She eased into the mix by starting at the six spot, going unfinished after she split here first two sets 6-2, 3-5.
Senior Domenika Turkovic bounced back with her first singles win (6-4, 7-5) in three weeks to clinch the sweep. That was after Turkovic and freshman Patricija Spaka took down Anastasia Smirnova and Allison Zipoli 6-3 in doubles.
The Sun Devils return to conference play and welcome Cal this Friday at 1:30 p.m. in Tempe.
Reach the reporters at vdeange1@asu.edu and dstipano@asu.edu and follow @vdeangelis2024 and @dstipanovichh on Twitter.
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Vincent Deangelis is a full-time reporter for the sports department at The State Press. He has previously worked for Arizona PBS and AZPreps365.com.
