Jordan Murray and Peter Ayers led the No. 9 men's tennis team to a solid showing at this weekend's Southern Collegiate Championships.
Both Murray and Ayers advanced to the fourth round of the A division of the tournament, which features the top teams in the south and is considered one of the strongest in the nation.
Murray recorded three victories before finally falling 6-3, 6-1, to Eddie Jacques of Georgia. Jacques was the third seed in the singles bracket, and he is ranked No. 17 in the country. Murray is making his return to action with the Blue Devils after sitting out much of last spring with a mononucleosis-related illness.
Murray said his play was much improved from last week's T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships, in which he lost in the qualifying rounds.
"My match toughness is a lot better," he said. "It was nice to come back from a disappointing first tournament."
Murray defeated highly-touted freshman Johan Sunnemark of Mississippi 4-6, 6-0, 7-6, in the second round, a fact which was not lost on Duke head coach Jay Lapidus.
"Jordan Murray's results were excellent," Lapidus said. "For Jordan to beat that guy says a lot about how he's playing."
Ayers, the 11th seed in the tournament, defeated Jeff Baker of South Florida and Julius Roberts of Middle Tennessee State before bowing to ninth-seeded Carlos Engel of Auburn 6-3, 7-6. Ayers was edged out 10-8 in the second- set tiebreaker.
"It would have been a nice match to win, but I played well," Ayers said. "It was a really tough tournament. Outside of the grand slams, I don't think you'll find one any tougher."
Freshman Jordan Wile and sophomore Ramin Pejan also performed well for the Blue Devils. Both advanced to the third round of the B division singles tournament.
Wile defeated Amr El Sawaf of Florida in straight sets before losing to Denis Topcic of Georgia State 1-6, 6-1, 6-3. Pejan topped Igor Santana of Morehead State and Yuo Niks of Florida State before falling to Hyon Yoo of Virginia 6-3, 6-4.
"[Wile] is really going to help us down the line," Lapidus said. "He's improved quite a bit already."
Junior Adam Gusky also played singles for Duke, but was bounced 7-6, 6-3, in the second round of the A division by Cedric Kaufmann of Kentucky, the fifth seed in the tournament. Gusky has been hampered by back problems all season, which has limited his practice time.
In doubles action, Ayers and junior Sven Koehler were scheduled to play in the A division as the No. 2 seed. However, Koehler withdrew from the tournament to tend to some academic commitments, forcing the pair to default. Koehler was also slated to play in the A division singles bracket, but he defaulted from that portion of the tournament as well.
Murray and Wile, also playing doubles in the A division, scored a victory before they were also forced to default due to blisters on Wile's hand. The injury is not considered serious and Wile should be able to play in a few days.
The coaching staff decided not to send senior Rob Chess, ranked 22nd in the nation, to the tournament. Chess played in a lengthy run of matches in last week's Clay Court Championships.
Lapidus was pleased with his team's effort both in victory and defeat.
"There were some real bright spots," he said. "Overall, the quality of play of our guys was excellent. We beat a lot of good players and took a lot of good players to close matches."
The Duke men's tennis team's next competition of the fall season will be in the North Carolina Team Round Robin tournament from Oct. 13-15 in Chapel Hill.
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