Men’s tennis had to work harder than usual to win this ACC matchup.
Duke (7-2, 1-0 in the ACC) overcame an upset to its top doubles pair to defeat N.C. State, 6-1, in a matchup that was much closer than the final score indicated. No. 6 Duke pulled out the No. 3 doubles match to secure the doubles point, and senior Peter Shults won a tight singles match to lock up the team victory.
“N.C. State is much improved over the last few years,” Duke head coach Jay Lapidus said. “They have a new coach there and he is doing a great job. They’re getting better.”
The No. 3 doubles match was the turning point in the contest. With the first two doubles matches split, the pair of Shults and junior Stephen Amritraj finally broke the Wolfpack pair’s serve and held on for 8-6 victory that gave Duke the critical doubles team point and the momentum.
“With men’s doubles indoors, it is sometimes very hard to break serve,” Lapidus said. “They held for much of the match until we were finally able to break them and hold on for the win.”
This match was the first real test for the Wolfpack (12-1, 0-1), which had not played a top-50 team on its way to an undefeated record. Duke was coming off an impressive fifth-place finish in the National Team Indoor Championships, which featured the nation’s top 16 teams.
Junior Ludovic Walter, ranked No. 2 in the nation, defeated N.C. State’s top player Conor Taylor in two sets to improve to 15-3 on the year. Walter jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first set and held on to win 6-4 before finishing off Taylor 6-3 in the second set. Freshman Charles Brezac dominated his Wolfpack counterpart, winning the No. 5 singles match, 6-2, 6-1.
It was not so easy for Amritraj and Ned Samuelson, the Blue Devils’ No. 3 and No. 6 singles players, respectively. Amritraj, ranked No. 97 in the nation, was beaten in straight sets by sophomore Andre Iriarte, who improved to 9-0 on the year. Samuelson, in only his third match of the season, bounced back from dropping the first set 6-3 to win the next two, including the second in a tiebreaker.
“The doubles were tight and we had a couple of single matches that were close,” Lapidus said. “They pushed very hard at the No. 4 and 6 spots and beat us at No. 3. They were really fighting well.”
The top doubles pair of Jason Zimmermann and Walter fell 9-7 to the Wolfpack pair of junior Will Shaw and freshman Nick Cavaday. The pair, which was ranked No. 14 in the preseason poll, dropped its third match in a row and is currently unranked.
“I felt like we had a chance to pull that out late, but we did not play our best match at No. 1 doubles,” Lapidus said.
The Blue Devils next take on Maryland at home Sunday.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.