No. 21 Men’s Tennis Falls to No. 9 Arizona

Box Score TUCSON– No. 21 Arizona State men’s tennis (13-8, 1-2) fell 4-2 to No. 9 Arizona (18-3, 4-1) in the Territorial Cup matchup between the two teams. The Sun Devils battled to push the final two singles matches into third sets, but ultimately fell on court three to seal the match.

Despite the loss, #97 Bor Artnak’s upset over #31Jay Friend marked his team-high 12th singles win. 

The Wildcats clinched the doubles point for an early 1-0 lead. The duo of Murphy Cassone and Jacob Bullard were down 5-6 in the tiebreak on court two at the time of the doubles completion. 

From the fourth position, Roi Ginat fell in straight sets, and Arizona was up 2-0. 

Cassone was the lone Sun Devil to win his first set, and defeated Colton Smith in straight sets to pull ASU within one point. Bullard dropped straight sets and the Arizona lead was 3-1. 

McKennon had the 7-3 edge in the second set tiebreak which allowed ASU to stay in the match. Constantinos Koshis followed with a 7-4 win in his second set tiebreak to keep the match alive. 

Bor Artnak downed #31 Jay Friend in the third set for the second ASU point and it was a 3-2 deficit for the Sun Devils. 

Each in their third sets, McKennon was the first to fall, 4-6, which allowed Arizona to clinch the match. Koshis was down 3-4 in the third set at the time of the match’s completion.

Singles Competition: 

1. #8 Murphy Cassone (ASU) def. #14 Colton Smith (UA) 6-3, 6-3
2. #97 Bor Artnak (ASU) def. #31 Jay Friend (UA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. #73 Gustaf Strom (UA) def. Max McKennon (ASU) 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-4
4. Herman Hoeyeraal (UA) def. Roi Ginat (ASU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Casper Christensen (UA) def. Jacob Bullard (ASU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Constantinos Koshis (ASU) vs. Nick Ligaev (UA) 3-6, 7-6 (4), 3-4 unfinished

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

Doubles Competition: 

1. #18 Colton Smith/Jay Friend (UA) def. Bor Artnak/Max McKennon (ASU) 7-6 (3)
2. Jacob Bullard/Murphy Cassone (ASU) vs Herman Hoeyeraal/Eric Padgham (UA) 6-6 unfinished
3. Sasha Rozin/Gustaf Strom (UA) def. Nicola Cigna/Daniel Phillips (ASU) 6-2

Order of finish: 3,1

Up Next: 

Sun Devils will close out their home schedule by celebrating the seniors next weekend against Utah on Friday, April 12 at 5 p.m. MST. April 11-14 is also the team’s alumni weekend, and alumni are encouraged to contact Ethan Pickren (epickren@asu.edu) to rsvp for Alumni…