This article was originally published on February 25, 2023.
Arizona State (6-2) began Friday with a 4-0 victory over GCU (2-8) before they began their 8-Team Invitational at Kiwanis Park in Tempe with a 4-1 victory over Nevada (1-5).
Sophomore Murphy Cassone and junior Jacob Bullard led the way for the Sun Devils Friday, going undefeated throughout the day. The pair won both of their doubles matches along with their respective singles matches.
Cassone and Bullard got the Sun Devils started against GCU with a doubles win (6-3), the first for the pair as doubles partners this season.
Junior Max McKennon and freshman Roi Ginat finished off GCU (6-3) for their third straight doubles win as partners to give the Sun Devils the one point awarded to doubles.
The Sun Devils continued their shutout of GCU with victories by Cassone (6-1, 6-0), Bullard (6-4, 6-2) and freshman Constantinos Koshis (6-1, 6-4) in their respective singles matches.
The momentum did not stop there as both sets of doubles partners had repeat performances against Nevada. Cassone’s and Bullard’s victory along with McKennon’s and Ginat’s victory once again gave the Sun Devils a 1-0 lead going into the singles matches.
That’s where Cassone continued his masterful day with a singles win (6-1, 6-0) identical to his win earlier in the day against GCU. After being up and down in his last two meets, Cassone came out and dominated Friday, showing the level of play he knows he is capable of.
“My ball quality is very high, so once I establish that they are not getting the ball past me and I’m not missing, they kind of self-destruct from there,” said Cassone. “It doesn’t matter who it is.”
The Sun Devil’s third point came from Bullard’s two sets to one win fueled by a comeback after losing the first set in a tiebreaker.
“I knew my gameplan was right, and I knew if I kept fighting and sticking to my gameplan that I would have a lot of opportunities,” Bullard said.
Bullard did just that, going on the dominate sets two and three with 6-2 and 6-1 set wins, respectively.
“I knew I could just rely on my match experience and the work that we’ve been putting in,” Bullard said.
Junior Spencer Brachman finished off the win for the Sun Devils with his 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 three-set victory over Nevada.
Brachman was motivated in the third set by his teammates, parents and girlfriend as he dominated leaving the Sun Devils with nothing to worry about heading toward victory.
“The atmosphere was great tonight,” Brachman said. “It was super electric out there.”
Next, the Sun Devils will take on UNLV at 5 p.m. MST at Kiwanis Tennis Center in Tempe on Saturday.
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