Sitting at 9-8 on a two-game losing streak, ASU men's tennis is preparing for a final stretch of the season with five matches remaining.
No. 37 ASU currently sits at the bottom of the Big 12 with an 0-3 conference record. An upcoming three-game home stand against No. 68 Texas Tech, No. 74 Oklahoma State and No. 57 BYU gives the Sun Devils the chance they need to bounce back.
ASU is just 3-7 against teams ranked inside the top 30 but 6-1 when facing those outside that mark. The return of No. 1 singles sophomore Bor Artnak will be a huge addition to the Sun Devils.
ASU was unable to win a single point when suffering back-to-back sweeps against No. 17 Baylor on March 21 and No. 2 TCU on March 23 without Artnak. The sophomore would immediately slot back into both No. 1 singles and doubles.
READ MORE: ASU men's tennis change doubles pairings in hopes of team improvement
Artnak is 10-4 at No. 1 this year, including a 3-1 record against nationally ranked opponents. Artnak at No. 1 would allow head coach Matt Hill to slide senior Mathis Bondaz back to No. 2, where he holds a 6-3 record compared to a 0-2 record at No. 1.
Artnak will jump back into playing doubles alongside sophomore Daniel Phillips. The pair has only been together for one game this season, a 7-6(5) victory over then-No. 14 Baylor, and reps leading up to the biggest stretch of the season will be key for chemistry.
While Phillips is relatively inexperienced at No. 1 doubles, Artnak's experience in that position last season may help Phillips' transition.
"He's been playing it this year and last year ... for a long time," Phillips said. "So, he just got me through it with him and all I can do is absorb it, draw my ego a little bit to where I have to listen to him and my coach because those are the guys that have been there. They know what they're doing."
Numerous players have stepped up in Artnak’s absence. Hill is moving players around too in search of pairs who work together, and each player has made their own impact on the team. Hill said freshmen Mikey Anderson and Finn Willwerth, along with junior Roi Ginat, have improved while he's experimented with lineups.
"It's a constant moving target, like I said, some weeks guys look great together, and then there's sometimes you got to break them apart, let them cool off, even maybe put them with someone else, and then you can bring them back together later, if possible," Hill said. "It is constantly evolving week to week especially with a young group."
The team thinks a key to peaking at the end of the season is to not put so much pressure on themselves. Junior Constantinos Koshis said ranked games can be strenuous and focusing on the team can help alleviate that stress.
"The most important thing is to, first of all, enjoy it, 100% enjoy it with the team," Koshis said. "If you get into the mindset that it's getting stressful at the end of the season ... it gets tough on your mental."
ASU has five matches left to end the regular season, including a season finale against UA on April 12. The Big 12 Championships are around the corner from April 18 - 20, but the Sun Devils are prioritizing continuous growth.
"We want them to be playing better tennis next week than this week, and we want to be peaking in April and May when the national championships are going on," Hill said. "That's when we're going to be playing our best tennis and we've said that since the beginning, that this is a team that's definitely going to be playing better as the season goes on."
Edited by Jack Barron, Abigail Beck and Katrina Michalak.
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Pratham is a sophomore studying sports journalism with a minor in business. This is his fourth semester with The State Press.
