After getting out to an early lead, the men's tennis team was upset by Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon at the Eck Tennis Pavilion in South Bend, Ind. The 29th-ranked Fighting Irish defeated Duke 4-3.
"I thought that we played okay, but not as well as we could have been playing," Duke coach Jay Lapidus said. "It had nothing to do with being ranked ahead or behind other teams-when we're playing well, there's not a team in the country we can't beat."
In fact, it seemed as if the Blue Devils were in position to beat the lower-ranked Notre Dame team after the first few matches. The first matches played were the doubles, highlighted by the strong Duke duo of sophomore Dmitry Muzyka and senior Sven Koehler. They won their match effortlessly with a score of 8-4.
"Sven and Dmitry looked really strong," Lapidus said. "They're easily the top one or two in the country and they're going to be a real positive point for us."
Following the Muzyka/Koehler match, freshman Doug Root and sophomore Jordan Wile extended the lead for the Blue Devils with an 8-5 win. Finally, an additional 8-4 win by senior Adam Gusky and freshman Porter Jones placed the Blue Devils in good position for a match sweep.
"We felt pretty good after the doubles matches," Lapidus said. "Unfortunately, we probably felt too good and got a little overconfident."
This overconfidence perhaps led to Duke's downfall, as the Blue Devils won only two of the six singles matches. In the first singles match, Irishman Ryan Sachire defeated Muzyka 6-7, 6-1, 6-4.
"Dmitry played well, but unfortunately, so did his opponent," Lapidus said. "[Ryan Sachire] played quite well and he was a lot sharper."
Following Muzyka's three set loss, the Blue Devils earned their only two singles wins of the day, consisting of a victory from freshman Doug Root at second singles, 6-4, 7-5, and a third singles victory by junior transfer Alberto Brause, 6-2, 6-3.
Notre Dame then rallied and pulled through with wins against Koehler, 6-1, 6-4, and Gusky, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
In the final match of the day, Irish junior Eric Enloe came back from one set down to defeat Duke's Porter Jones 6-7, 7-6, 6-1. This win gave the Irish a record of 7-2 overall, while the Blue Devils fell to 1-1.
Despite this loss, Duke is not overly concerned with its level of play.
"The season for us has just started and [Notre Dame] has been competing much longer," Lapidus said. "Plus, this is a good wake-up call for us going into the remainder of the season."
An additional factor that possibly influenced Duke's play was its lack of available practice time. In the three days before the tournament, the Blue Devils were allowed merely two hours of on-court practice time. Weather prevented outdoor court time, and the team was not permitted in the IM building's indoor courts.
"It was really frustrating for us because we weren't as ready as we could have been," Lapidus said. "We were unable to use the facilities and it really hindered our practices."
The team hopes to gain better access to the courts and improve its play in upcoming matches. The Blue Devils will be back in action this weekend when they travel to Louisville, Ky., for the National Team Indoors on Feb. 20-23. Duke will open the tournament with a match against Kansas.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.