It seems the men's tennis team just likes close calls.
After sweeping Virginia (20-4, 4-2 in the ACC) Saturday in the first leg of an ACC weekend duo in Durham, the Blue Devils edged Florida State (12-9, 5-2) Sunday - the third 4-3 conference victory this season, and eighth contest Duke (15-5, 7-0) has played to that score.
Competing outside after their Saturday match, which was played in Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, Duke got off to a hot start, winning the doubles point by taking two-of-three matches. Phillip King teamed with Michael Yani at the No. 1 flight, and beat Florida State's Alex Herrera and Romain Jurd 8-6.
And while Duke's third pair of Peter Shults and Jonathan Stokke lost in a tiebreak, No. 2 Ludovic Walter and Jason Zimmerman won in the same fashion, giving Duke the 1-0 lead.
In singles play, Duke began with King losing at the top slot to Mat Cloer, 6-3, 6-2. Then, Yani, who was recently named ACC Player of the Week, continued his torrid play and gave Duke the lead, winning 6-3, 6-2.
A Walter win and a Shults loss gave Duke a 3-2 lead. Zimmerman then secured the win for the Blue Devils, breaking at 3-3 in the third set to cap off a comeback and win 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Saturday Duke appeared much more dominant from start to finish as they trounced Virginia 7-0.
The Blue Devils won all three slots for the doubles point, and then used three quick, two-set wins from Stokke, Walter and Yani to finish off the Cavaliers. Duke then won its remaining matches.
The victories kept Duke's regular-season in-conference winning streak alive at 56, and also secured the No. 1 seed for the Blue Devils at the upcoming ACC tournament.
Duke will put its streak on the line when it faces archrival North Carolina at 5 p.m. at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill Wednesday. Last season, the Blue Devils were also taken to 4-3 against the Tar Heels, but used last-second heroics from then-freshman Shults to pull out the victory.
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