Entering their second official match of the spring season against Princeton Tuesday, the No. 15 Blue Devils had looked quite sharp in the early going, boasting wins in the Duke Invitational last week and over Elon Saturday.
The Blue Devils (2-0) were able to maintain that level of play against the Tigers (0-2) Tuesday as they earned an easy 5-2 win at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center.
"Princeton is one of the favorites in the Ivy League and they are dangerous, so I'm happy to come away with the win," head coach Jay Lapidus, a Princeton alumnus, said. "I think we had a few matches that were fairly quick and got us to that 4-0 lead."
Doubles play got Duke off to a good start, as the Blue Devils were able to win all three contests and earn the first point of the match. Sophomore Dylan Arnould and senior Alex Stone teamed to win their match 8-6, setting the pace for the rest of the team.
"We are getting better at doubles," Lapidus said. "A couple of weeks ago we were certainly struggling with doubles, but I feel like we have shored up some of our volleying skills."
With the doubles point in hand, Duke looked confident in singles play against an overmatched Princeton squad. Freshman Jared Pinsky, playing as the fifth seed, was the first player off the court. He recorded a 6-0, 6-2 victory against the Tigers' Ryan Kim to notch his second career dual match win.
"Jared Pinsky is playing really well," Lapidus said. "He's only lost four games in the two matches he's played for us, and we put him at five today and he was just really really good."
On Court 4, Arnould also cruised to a win, handily defeating Alex Vuckovic in straight sets. Second-seeded David Goulet was then able to break his opponent's serve late in the second set en route to a 6-4, 6-3 victory that clinched the match for the Blue Devils.
Even though Duke had officially defeated the Tigers, all three matches still in progress were allowed to continue. Kiril Dimitrov, the Blue Devils' top seed, won his contest with a volley on match point to put the team up by a commanding 5-0 score.
To conclude the evening, freshman Reid Carleton lost a decisive third set, while Stone dropped Duke's only other match of the evening, 6-7, 6-7.
After two relatively easy matches, the Blue Devils now enter one of the most challenging stretches of their non-conference schedule. Friday, Duke takes on No. 8 Illinois and follows that with a tilt against No. 11 Notre Dame. The Illini stand at just 1-1, but their only loss came in a tightly-contested match with last year's national runner-up, Virginia.
"They are one of the elite teams in the country, and they always are year-in and year-out, so it will be a challenge for us to see where we are," Lapidus said. "We have a really good youthful group and I think they are pretty excited about it."
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