Men's tennis heads to Ojai, CA, Pac-10 Championships


This Week
After finishing off the dual match season with a win over rival Arizona, the No. 21 Arizona State men's tennis team will head to the Pac-10 Championships in Ojai, Calif. The Sun Devils finished the regular season with a 15-4 overall record and 3-4 conference record. With a .789 winning percentage, this is the Sun Devils best dual season since the 1978 season when the Sun Devils finished 27-3.

Sun Devils in the Rankings
With a No. 21 national ranking, the Sun Devils remained in the top 25 for the seventh straight week. Matt Brooklyn moved up to No. 78 this week while Andres Arango remained at No. 61. Brooklyn and his doubles partner T.J. Bellama are currently ranked 45th.

Last Time At Pac-10 Championships
At last year's Pac-10 Championships, Juan Carlos Rebaza made it to the semi-finals before falling to Washington's Alex Stovic in a hard-fought 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. The doubles team of Matt Brooklyn and Wes Miller also competed in the semi-finals, yet fell 8-5 to Stanford's Matt Bruch and Blake Mueller.

Recap
The Sun Devils capped the regular season by stuffing rival Arizona 7-0. The Sun Devils took two of the doubles matches, with each one winning 8-5. In singles, the Sun Devils swept the Wildcats handily, taking all matches but one in straight sets. With a 3-4 conference record, the Sun Devils finished fifth in the Pac-10.

You Go Arango!
Sophomore Andres Arango has had a very successful debut season with the Sun Devils. Currently ranked 61st in the nation, Arango has gone 5-5 against ranked opponents since joining ASU's squad. Arango's wins against ranked opponenets have included No. 59 Holden Seguso (UCLA), #105 Kallim Stewart (Cal) and No. 118 Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (UW). Arango also notched two victories over ranked opponents at the ASU Spring Invitational when he picked up wins over No. 19 Ryan Rowe (Illinois) and No. 46 Ed Corrie (Texas).

T.J. Takes Honor
For the second consecutive week and third time this season, a Sun Devil netter has claimed the title Pac-10 Player of the Week. T.J. Bellama
earned the honor for the week of March 10-16. After dropping his first set to Clemson's Derek DiFazio, he battled back through two tough sets to pick up the victory in the number six position 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5. Playing in the number five position, Bellama handily defeated Georgia Tech's Miguel Muguruza in straight sets, winning 6-1, 6-1.

Rebaza Rewarded
Juan Carlos Rebaza was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the week of March 3-9. Against Pierre Mouillon of California, Rebaza battled back from dropping the second set to take the match thanks to a spirited performance in the tiebreaker, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (4). Rebaza upset No. 85 Richard Wire of Stanford the following day in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. This is the first weekly honor for Rebaza.

Brooklyn Honored
Matt Brooklyn was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 11-17. Brooklyn, playing out of the No. 1 position in singles, remained undefeated (5-0) over the weekend to lead the Sun Devils to victories on the road over Marquette and Northwestern and maintain their undefeated record in dual match play (5-0). Brooklyn is now 12-6 in singles, including a win over No. 6 Robert Farah of USC.