April 16, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

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.

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 Andres Arango is currently ranked 59th nationally. After defeating seventh ranked Robert Farah of USC, Matt Brooklyn moved up from No. 116 to No. 82 nationally. In doubles rankings, the team of Brooklyn and T.J. Bellama moved up to No. 43 this week.

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.

Up Next
The Sun Devils will head to Ojai, Calif., to compete at the Pac-10 Championships.

Recap
The Sun Devils suffered two losses to two top-ten teams. ASU fell 4-3 to USC and 4-3 to UCLA. Matt Brooklyn upset No. 7 Robert Farah of USC in the No. 1 spot, while Harry Skinner and Wes Miller earned two singles victories over the weekend.

Senior Salute
Saturday's match will be the last home match for senior Juan Carlos Rebaza. 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.

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).