In a season full of one-point losses, Duke suffered yet another Wednesday, falling to North Carolina 4-3.
In a strange way, though, the Blue Devils (7-12, 4-5 in the ACC) left Ambler Stadium quite pleased with their performance.
The No. 11 Tar Heels (17-4, 7-1) clinched the match early on, winning the doubles point and the first three singles contests to build an insurmountable 4-0 lead. But freshman Reid Carleton's fight back from a one-set deficit left his coaches and teammates thrilled, even in the face of the loss.
"Reid is unbelievable, and that was an amazing match," associate head coach Ramsey Smith said. "We had already lost the match, and a lot of people would probably have thrown in the towel, but he mentally turned things around and hung in there. I wish it had been for the match."
Carleton, a Naples, Fla. native, played an error-filled first set against North Carolina's Stefan Hardy en route to a 6-1 defeat. In the second, however, the freshman got off to a better start and cruised to a 6-3 win.
By the time the third set began, the Tar Heels had already sealed the contest, and most of the remaining fans crowded around Court 2. Carleton put on quite a show, breaking Hardy's serve to force a tiebreak. He then recovered from a 3-0 deficit to clinch the extra session 7-5.
"I was just trying to get to every ball, and [Hardy] was playing really well and hitting some great shots," Carleton said. "I put everything into every point, and I was able to pull it off."
In particular, Smith praised Carleton for his hustle when trailing 3-0 in the tiebreaker, pulling out a rally Smith called one of the best he'd ever seen. On the point, Carleton chased the ball all over the court before Hardy slammed it into the net, giving Duke's two-seed a chance at the comeback.
But Duke struggled mightily outside of Carleton's emotional victory.
The Tar Heels jumped out to an early lead after easily winning the doubles point. The Blue Devils' first-seeded pairing of David Goulet and Christopher Price went down 8-3, while second-seeded pair Carleton and Kiril Dimitrov fell 8-6.
Duke's play improved only marginally in singles. The Blue Devils' fourth-seed Dylan Arnould was swept away in straight sets, and senior Alex Stone lost 6-2, 6-1.
Tar Heel Chris Kearney earned his team's crucial fourth point with a win over third-seeded Dimitrov, also in straight sets.
Playing with no pressure after their defeat was sealed, Duke got some positive results late. Top-seed David Goulet pulled out a two-set win over Benjamin Carlotti, while No. 6 Alain Michel, a Sao Paulo, Brazil native who has played only three singles matches all season, picked up a 6-2, 6-2 victory. "We literally told [Michel] right before the match that he would be playing," Smith said. "That was a huge effort for Al to come in at the last second and take care of business."
The loss to North Carolina was Duke's ninth of the season against teams ranked in the top 25, and five of those have come by a single point. All the close calls have started to wear on the Blue Devils, but the squad still believes it can accomplish great things this season.
"We've had chances, but we have to hold our heads up high and know we are right there," Smith said. "We have to believe in ourselves and think we're going to come through."
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