No. 18 Men's Tennis Notches Dominant Wins in Home Opener
TEMPE, Ariz. – No. 18 Arizona State Men's Tennis swept the season-opening doubleheader in dominant fashion with a 7-0 victory over LMU and 6-1 win against New Mexico State. ASU looks to keep momentum going, and immediately hits the road to face the top-ranked Texas Longhorns on January 19.
Head Coach Matt Hill praised his squad and the new faces that made their Sun Devil debuts, "It's just great to see them living in a match so comfortably," noting freshman, Tanner Povey's win against NMSU from the second position and graduate transfer Matic Dimic's heroics after clinching both matches for the Sun Devils.
Arizona State 7, LMU 0
Sun Devil returners, Nicola Cigna and Constantinos Koshis, started the doubles match with a commanding 6-0 victory from the third position. Tanner Povey and Daniel Phillips clinched the doubles point on court two and ASU led 1-0. The Slovenian duo in Bor Artnak and Matic Dimic dropped their first doubles match as a pair after playing out the match following the clinch.
The Sun Devils carried over their strong doubles performance into singles, and did not need a single third set to secure the first victory of the season. Artnak was the first to earn a point winning 6-1 in the first set and battling back from a 1-4 deficit to take the second set 6-4. The team followed his winning ways and clinched the next five singles matches as the teams played out singles in Thursday's competition.
Singles Competition:
- Bor Artnak (ASU) def. Arthur Pantino (LMU) 6-1, 6-4
- Constantinos Koshis (ASU) def. Sebastian Nothhaft (LMU) 6-3, 6-2
- Nicola Cigna (ASU) def. Alex Padro (LMU) 6-1, 6-3
- Daniel Philips (ASU) def. Cesar Cruz (LMU) 7-6 (0), 6-4
- Matic Dimic (ASU) def. Inigo Diaz (LMU) 6-4, 6-1
- Roi Ginat (ASU) def. Nic Pesoli (LMU) 6-2, 6-1
Order of finish: 1, 6, 5, 3, 2, 4
Doubles Competition:
- Sebastian Nothhaft/Cesar Cruz (LMU) def. Bor Artnak/Matic Dimic (ASU) 6-4
- Tanner Povey/Daniel Phillips (ASU) def. Alex Padro Parra/Inigo Diaz (LMU) 6-4
- Nicola Cigna/Constantinos Koshis (ASU) def. Arthur Pantino/ Sasch Nothdurft (LMU) 6-0
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Arizona State 6, New Mexico State 1
The Sun Devils won the first two doubles matches, securing the doubles point after Philips and Povey earned another win, 6-1, followed by Artnak and Dimic winning a thriller 7-6 (5) to earn their first doubles win as a pair.
Artnak picked up where he left off, earning a 6-0, 6-1 win to record the first singles point. Ginat put up a donut in his second set to clinch his match, and another singles point, 6-2, 6-0. Dimic's 6-2, 6-2, win clinched the four points for Arizona State, as the teams played out the singles matches. Povey earned his first singles win as a Sun Devil recording his 6-4, 6-2 victory from the second position.
Singles Competition:
- Bor Artnak (ASU) def. Tobias Wallin (NMSU) 6-0, 6-1
- Tanner Povey (ASU) def. Holland Snell (NMSU) 6-4, 6-2
- Daniel Phillips (ASU) def. Italy Feigin (NMSU) 6-2, 6-4
- Matic Dimic (ASU) def. Matias Rojas (NMSU) 6-2, 6-2
- Roi Ginat (ASU) def. Gustavo Campos (NMSU) 6-2, 6-0
- Lance Urlaub (NMSU) def. Mikey Anderson (ASU) 7-6 (2), 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 5, 4, 2, 3, 6
Doubles Competition:
- Bor Artnak/Matic Dimic (ASU) def. Tobias Wallin/Gustavo Campos (NMSU) 7-6 (5)
- Tanner Povey/Daniel Phillips (ASU) def. Holland Snell/Matias Rojas (NMSU) 6-4
- Lance Urlaub/Patrick Lohmann (NMSU) def. Mikey Anderson/Finn Willwerth (ASU) 6-0
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Up Next:
The Sun Devils will hit the road for the first time this season to take on No. 1-ranked Texas on Sunday, January 19. Match start time is 12 p.m. AZT. Fans can watch via Playsight, or follow along on livestats here.