Arizona State Men’s Tennis Defeats Utah At Home In Thrilling Match

TEMPE, Ariz.- The Arizona State men’s tennis team defeated Utah at home under the Thursday night lights, 4-2. 

Missing pieces for ASU

ASU claimed victory over the match, however they were missing two of their top players. Redshirt senior Mathis Bondaz has been absent from the court for a little over a month. He has been dealing with an ongoing injury keeping him from playing. 

ASU coach Matt Hill said, “Utah has lost a ton of close matches, definitely a few of those being top 40 programs. We knew they were a good team and then we were up without a few players.”

Along with Bondaz, junior Bor Artnak wasn’t present for the home match. Artnak is participating in a Vegas matchup and will only miss one ASU tennis match.

ASU survives

 To start the match, Utah took the overall win against the Sun Devils during the doubles matches. Early on the courts, the Utes were up (1-0) after the win.

The singles were going to be the secret for the Sun Devils’ success, with six different courts being played on. 

“I thought we needed an adjustment, and we made it a little late; it should have been sooner,” Hill said.

Matches included sophomore Ofek Shimanov against senior Dante Teramo on court one. Teramo won (6-3), (6-4).

Court two consisted of senior Shu Matsuoka competing against Emmett Potter. Court three had a quick match because junior Jelani Sarr won against junior Lorenzo Esquici (6-2), (6-3). 

Sophomore Niels Villard faced off against freshman Balthazar Huss on the fourth court. Villard won the match (6-4), (6-4). 

Court five had senior Roi Ginat against sophomore Charles Frey. 

Finally, sophomore Milos Mikovic faced off against freshman AJ Dean. Mikovic won (6-3), (6-2).

Excitement was going down at the courts, plenty of tie breakers extended the total of the match to determine the official winner. 

Ginat won the entire match for ASU after a constant back-and-forth between him and Utah. 

Ginat said, “You just have to keep going no matter what. The past is in the past and continue to focus on what’s to come.”