The Blue Devils came away with one victory in two narrowly decided ACC matches this weekend.
Against No. 13 Miami, all eyes were on freshman Kiril Dimitrov, who came into the match as the only undefeated Blue Devil in ACC competition with a 3-0 record. After dropping a one-sided first set 6-1, the Bulgarian roared back and claimed the next two close sets 7-6, 7-5, in the day's decisive match.
Two days later, Duke (12-5, 4-1 in the ACC) found itself in the exact same situation against No. 27 Florida State (12-9, 5-2) at 3-3, but could not come away with a win.
With the match leveled at 2-2, Christopher Brown fought to preserve Duke's perfect record in the ACC. But the senior came up short in a straight-set loss 6-2, 7-6 (5).
The match that followed would finish Duke's chances of remaining undefeated in conference play. No. 2 Jonathan Stokke, was upset by Jonathas Sucupira of Florida State to effectively end the match, 4-2.
Dimitrov also suffered his first ACC loss of the season in straight sets against the Seminoles, 6-3, 6-2, Sunday.
His teammate, fifth-ranked Ludovic Walter, split his two singles matches this weekend. Miami's Luigi D'Agord, currently ranked 7th in the ITA, upset Walter Saturday, but Duke's top-flight player but bounced back against Florida State to win, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
On the doubles end, Duke was 1-1 during the weekend. Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues won both of their matches, but teammates Stokke and Joey Atas, ranked 29th in the ITA, fell 8-5 and 8-3 against Miami (12-3, 4-2) and Florida State, respectively.
Head coach Jay Lapidus has kept his lineup consistent for most of the season with the exception of the sixth singles spot, which he has rotated regularly. The Blue Devils have not captured a point in the position for seven consecutive matches, including the two this weekend.
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