Men's tennis set to host Arizona

April 16, 2008

This Week The No. 21 Arizona State men's tennis team will cap the regular season with a classic Duel in the Desert match against rival No. 62 Arizona this Saturday at noon at the ASU Whiteman Tennis Center. The Sun Devils are 14-4 with a 2-4 conference record. Arizona is currently 11-10 overall and 1-5 in the Pac-10. Arizona senior Claudio Christen is ranked 83rd nationally. <separator></separator>Sun Devils in the Rankings With a No. 21 national ranking, the Sun Devils remained in the top 25 for the sixth straight week. Sophomore <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/arango_andres00.html">… Arango</a> is currently ranked 59th nationally. After defeating seventh ranked Robert Farah of USC, <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/brooklyn_matt00.html">… Brooklyn</a> moved up from No. 116 to No. 82 nationally. In doubles rankings, the team of Brooklyn and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/bellama_tj00.html">T.J. Bellama</a> moved up to No. 43 this week. <separator></separator>Series History Although the Sun Devils are behind 31-57 in the all-time series against their in-state rival, the Sun Devils have won the past four meetings. Earlier this season, ASU topped U of A 4-3 in Tucson. <separator></separator>Up Next The Sun Devils will head to Ojai, Calif., to compete at the Pac-10 Championships. <separator></separator>Recap The Sun Devils suffered two losses to two top-ten teams. ASU fell 4-3 to USC and 4-3 to UCLA. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/brooklyn_matt00.html">… Brooklyn</a> upset No. 7 Robert Farah of USC in the No. 1 spot, while <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/skinner_harry00.html">… Skinner</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/miller_wes00.html">Wes Miller</a> earned two singles victories over the weekend. <separator></separator>Senior Salute Saturday's match will be the last home match for senior <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/rebaza_juancarlos00.ht… Carlos Rebaza</a>. Rebaza has competed for ASU for the past two seasons. He earned first-team Pac-10 honors last season and was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for the week of March 3-9 earlier this season. The Lima, Peru native has competed primarily in the top half of the lineup for the past two seasons. Rebaza finished with a 27-12 record last season and is currently 17-13 this season. <separator></separator>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. <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/bellama_tj00.html">T.J. Bellama</a> 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.<separator></separator>Rebaza Rewarded <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/rebaza_juancarlos00.ht… Carlos Rebaza</a> 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. <separator></separator>Brooklyn Honored <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/brooklyn_matt00.html">… Brooklyn</a> 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).