Men’s Tennis Nearly Knocks Off No. 6 Wake Forest, is Eliminated from NCAA Tournament

WINSTON-SALEM– In the NCAA Tournament round of 32 at the Winston-Salem Regional hosted by Wake Forest, No. 21 Arizona State men’s tennis (18-10) nearly knocked off No. 6 Wake Forest (29-6) after battling to the third set on the final singles court, eventually falling 4-3 on Saturday. 

Despite the loss, the Sun Devils were just the third team to put three points on the board against Wake Forest in their 28 wins.

The Sun Devils dropped a thriller doubles point after a loss on court one and a win on court three had all the sticks on court two. Bor Artnak and Max McKennon fell 7-5 in the tiebreak after a second overrule, on a ball that was out, gave Wake Forest the winning point to lead 1-0 in the match. 

McKennon and Bullard were the first two finishers and put ASU in front 2-1 after defeating their opponents in straight sets. Roi Ginat fell in straight sets on court five, which evened the match 2-2. 

Artnak battled to win in three sets, and ASU found themselves with a 3-2 lead. At the time of Artnak’s completion, Cassone was down 4-5 and Vergara was down 3-4 in their third sets.  Cassone fell 4-6 and the match was tied once again. 

Vergara tied the match 5-5, but fell in the next two sets, allowing Wake Forest to clinch the match 4-3. 

Singles Competition: 

1.  #25 Filippo Moroni (WAKE) def. #11 Murphy Cassone (ASU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
2. #64 Bor Artnak (ASU) def. #79 DK Suresh (WAKE) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
3. Max McKennon (ASU) def. Matthew Thompson (WAKE) 6-2, 6-1
4. Jacob Bullard (ASU) def. #124 Luciano Tacchi (WAKE) 6-3, 6-3
5. Luca Pow (WAKE) def. Roi Ginat (ASU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Holden Koons (WAKE) def. Martin Vergara (ASU) 4-6, 6-0, 7-5

Order of finish: 3,4,5,2,1,6

Doubles Competition: 

1. #2 Holden Koons/DK Suresh (WAKE) def. #40 Jacob Bullard/Murphy Cassone (ASU) 6-2
2. Filippo Mironi/Matthew Thompson (WAKE) def. #86 Max McKennon/Bor Artnak (ASU) 
3. Martin Vergara/Daniel Phillips (ASU) def. Luca Pow/Luciano Tacchi (WAKE) 6-4

Order of finish: 1,3,2 

SUN DEVIL MEN’S TENNIS MOST WINS 1981-PRESENT

1991: 21-10

1985: 19-13

1982: 19-14

2024: 18-10

1988: 18-9

Up Next: 

Murphy Cassone and Jacob Bullard will head to the NCAA Doubles Championship. Cassone will also be competing in the NCAA Singles Championship, with Bor Artnak selected as an alternate. The singles…