Singles may take the shine in college tennis but emerging victorious in doubles is integral to coming out on top, and that fact is not lost on the ASU's men's tennis team.
With former ASU player Murphy Cassone forgoing his senior season to join the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour and having faced 10 teams ranked in the top 30 nationally, the Sun Devils have tinkered with their doubles pairings to try and find a lineup that consistently works.
A doubles victory in college tennis only accounts for one point, but the importance of that singular point is apparent to universities. Early in the year, the doubles pair of sophomore Daniel Phillips and freshman Tanner Povey got out to a hot start. The duo won seven of their first eight games at No. 2 doubles, defeating then No. 1 ranked Texas and No. 25 Pepperdine.
But certain issues rose during a brief two-game losing streak that made head coach Matt Hill question the long-term capability of their partnership.
"It wasn't any one thing other than sometimes you get a team that … they're really hot, and they were hot at the beginning of the year, and then they started to not play as well," Hill said. "There were some things that were getting exposed, and they just continued to show up."
Beyond the Phillips-Povey duo, the cracks started to show throughout the whole team. The Sun Devils went 1-5 in doubles in the six matches before they faced Baylor on March 16.
Facing Baylor, Hill adjusted by moving Phillips up to No. 1doubles alongside sophomore Bor Artnak, who previously played with graduate student Matic Dimic. He moved Dimic down to No. 3 doubles next to junior Constantinos Koshis, who sustained against Pepperdine in early February but has since returned.
The move immediately paid dividends, as ASU won the doubles point in their next match against Baylor, and both new doubles teams pulled out victories.
"(Playing with Dimic) was out of nowhere," Koshis said. "Obviously, (the team) struggled a little bit with getting the doubles points so we just decided that it was time to try a little something different ... We thought that if we change it a little bit, they wouldn't know what they're getting."
What made this change even more surprising was that Koshis and Dimic had never even practiced together, but Hill felt they'd succeed based on his observations during the early part of the season.
"CK is amazing at finishing at the net," Hill said. "Matic has a great serve so that complements each other incredibly well. And then Dimic is really, really good at the net … Matic is older and more mature and very knowledgeable about doubles, so I think he helps level out CK when he's getting that fired up and emotional."
Phillips and Artnak also had a strong connection in their styles of play. Both sophomores like to be aggressive with their serves and plus-one with their forehands, in addition to being "super competitive," according to Hill.
Phillips' transition from a lefty partner in Povey to a right-handed player in Artnak may seem difficult, but his experiences last year playing alongside two left-handed players in former ASU player Max McKennon and sophomore Martin Vergara Del Puerto, and a right-handed player in junior Nicola Cigna, made it much easier.
"I still played the same side, AD, with Tanner, as I did with Bor, but Bor's obviously a righty so it's a different feel as Bor's more on the outside," Phillips said. "He's gonna bring it usually more cross, and he usually likes to take his backhand line."
The partnerships are still a work in progress, especially with the changes being made this late into the season and players trying to balance their own careers with the college schedule. Artnak was out of action during ASU's matches against No. 17 Baylor on March 21 and No. 2 TCU on March 23, as the Sun Devils lost the doubles point in both games and got swept 4-0, dropping their record in doubles points to just 8-9 on the year.
In general, however, doubles is an area of growth for young college players. Most have played singles all their lives and while the basics of doubles are the same, the communication and tactics required are completely different.
"They don't know doubles when they come here, typically because in juniors, you don't get taught that a lot," Hill said. "You might play doubles at tournaments, but… you don't really know doubles. There is a lot of teaching going on on formations and positioning and where targets need to be on volleys or (where) stances need to be on serves with different positioning."
Only five games remain before the Big 12 Championship begins on April 18, and the Sun Devils' doubles prowess gets put on the line. In the meantime, ASU prepares for an upcoming three-game homestand with doubles on their mind.
Edited by Henry Smardo, Abigail Beck and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at pvallur2@asu.edu and follow @PrathamValluri on X.
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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.
