While many Duke students took advantage of the long weekend for some rest and relaxation, the men's tennis team was hard at work competing in the Southern Collegiate Championships. The four-day tournament, held at the University of Georgia in Athens this past weekend, was host to over 200 players from 38 schools, including the eighth-ranked Blue Devils and players from eight other nationaly-ranked teams.
Duke started off the tournament on the right foot with several players advancing in the first round of singles play that took place on Friday, October 10. Seniors Alberto Brause and Ramin Pejan, sophomore Porter Jones and freshman Rasmey Smith all advanced to the second round by way of first-round byes while freshman Ted Rueger defeated Jessie Koti of University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, 3-6,7-5,6-2, in the first round of Division 3 singles to move on to the second round of competition on Saturday.
Saturday brought about not only the advancement of Brause and Jones to the quarterfinals and the elimination of Rueger and Pejan, but also the start of doubles play. Both of the Blue Devils' doubles teams advanced to the second round. Georgia State's withdrawal from competition allowed the team of Brause and Pejan to advance without even playing. Freshman Marko Cerenko and Rueger defeated Vermulenad and Carrasco of Samford, 8-5, in what was to be the beginning of Duke's most successful run of the tournament.
After winning two matches on Sunday, Jones's five-match winning streak came to an end in Monday's Division 2 singles finals. Jones would have to settle for second place after a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Florida's Jeff Morrison. Despite the loss, the tournament allowed Jones to improve his overall record to 7-3.
"[Jones] played well this weekend," Duke coach Jay Lapidus said. "He was in a few tough matches that he was able to pull out and win in the end."
With so much depth on the team, Lapidus has been experimenting with different combinations of players in the quest to put together doubles teams with the right chemistry.
The team of Cerenko and Rueger proved to be the right combination this past weekend as they defeated the doubles team from UT-Chattanooga in the semifinals and subsequently trampled the top-seeded team from South Florida, 8-4, to become the Division 2 doubles champions.
"Although this is the first time we played together as a team, [Cerenko] and I knew we could do pretty well going into the tournament," Rueger said. "We knew each other even before we came to Duke. We're also roommates and know each other well, so it just seemed like second nature."
For several members of the team, the Reebok/ITA All-American Championship is next on the agenda. No. 28 Brause and 30th-ranked Doug Root will travel to Austin, Texas for competition beginning on Thursday. Joining Brause and Root in this second event in the Collegiate Grand Slam will be junior Jordan Wile, who teamed up with Root to earn doubles All-America honors last year. The 64-player and 32-team doubles draw that they will face is expected to be the most competitive hardcourt event of the fall season.
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