The ninth-seeded men’s tennis team breezed through the first round and pushed through the second round of the 64-team NCAA Tournament this past weekend, beating both South Carolina State and Virginia Commonwealth at the Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham.
With the victories, Duke advanced to play eighth-seeded Pepperdine in its 10th Sweet 16 appearance in the past 11 seasons. Last season was the exception, when Clemson upset a talented Duke squad in the second round on the Blue Devils’ home court.
No. 41 VCU (17-11) forced the Blue Devils (20-5) to battle hard, but Duke’s Jonathan Stokke ended the tight match with a comeback victory at the second singles flight. After being routed 7-1 in the first-set tiebreaker, the Chapel Hill native won the second set 6-3 and knotted the third set at 4-4, setting up the day’s climax.
Stokke broke opponent Martin Ott’s serve, but the match was far from over. Ott managed to go up two break points as Stokke tried to serve out the match, but the Duke junior fought off both to end the struggle and earn the Blue Devils a 4-1 triumph.
“I think the biggest thing this match showed us was how much better shape we are in this year as opposed to last year,” Stokke said. “We spent three hours and 45 minutes on the court, so our win today proves we can stay out here with anybody.”
Stokke also had his share of struggles in clinching the doubles point but won 9-8 (7-3) at No. 1 doubles with teammate Jason Zimmermann. The No. 2 team of Ludovic Walter and Charles Brezac claimed a 9-7 victory in another closely-fought encounter to secure the point for Duke.
Zimmermann and Peter Rodrigues gave the Blue Devils a three-point advantage with their singles wins. The senior Zimmermann, who has not been a singles starter for most of the season but has stepped up in the absence of Stephen Amritraj, was the first to finish with a 6-2, 6-4 win at the No. 5 slot. Rodrigues motored through his opponent at No. 3, winning 6-2, 6-2.
It was at this point that the Rams began to make the Blue Devils sweat. VCU’s Sergi Arumi downed Duke’s Peter Shults at No. 4 in straight sets, and all three remaining matches went to three sets. Walter had entered into a third-set tiebreaker at No. 1 and freshman Ned Samuelson was midway through the final set when Stokke claimed victory for the Blue Devils.
Last Friday’s opening-round contest with the Bulldogs (20-6) was much less intense, as Duke cruised to a 4-0 win. After winning the doubles point without a hitch, Rodrigues, Shults and Samuelson all won in straight sets. None of the three lost more than four games in his whole match.
“Yeah, they were kind of bad,” Stokke said half-jokingly. “But it was good to get through our first match pretty easily and rest in preparation for the next day.”
The rest of the NCAA Tournament will take place at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas. In March, Duke went 3-0 on a trip through the Lone Star State, including a 4-3 win over Texas A&M at the same tennis center.
Duke and Pepperdine (23-2) will face off at 6 p.m. Saturday, and the winner will meet either No. 16 Texas A&M or the undefeated and top-ranked defending champions Baylor.
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