Despite sweeping the No. 1 doubles and Nos. 1 and 2 singles spots, No. 21 Duke (4-2) fell to No. 12 Illinois 5-2 Friday at Sheffield Tennis Center.
Coming off an early 8-2 win from senior Reid Carleton and freshman Henrique Cunha in doubles, the Blue Devils failed to gain a lead as their Nos. 2 and No. 3 spots suffered 8-3 and 8-5 defeats to the Fighting Illini. That same trend continued, as Cunha and Carleton both won their singles matches but the rest of the team lost all four contests.
“Overall we competed really well, but obviously it was a disappointing loss to a really good team,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “Early on we had chances in singles to set the tone, and if we can win at No. 1 and No. 2 we should be able to win the match.”
In front of a sizable crowd, Duke seemed simultaneously energized and tense with the increased fan support. At the beginning of the singles round, Duke led in three of the six matches before losing its momentum. The players also had minor problems with cramping in their matches, something the coach attributed to nerves.
“We had an amazing crowd, which is awesome, but a couple of the guys seemed tighter than usual and didn’t play as loosely as they usually do,” Smith said. “Illinois outplayed us, but there were some chances we had that we didn’t fully capitalize on.”
Cunha and Carleton were the only Blue Devils to come away with wins against Illinois, with Cunha narrowly defeating Dennis Nevolo, 6-4, 7-6, and Carleton gaining a victory over Johnny Hamui, 6-4, 6-1.
“I think personally I played well, but unfortunately we didn’t win the game,” Cunha said. “Overall, everybody competed well, and we have the team to win this, but we weren’t playing as well as we should have.”
Sunday, though, Duke responded in the best way possible to its disappointing loss against the Fighting Illini. The Blue Devils hosted Notre Dame and N.C. Central and won both matches easily, as Duke recorded 7-0 sweeps against the Fighting Irish (3-3) and the Eagles (0-3).
Against the Irish Sunday afternoon, Duke won the doubles point when Dylan Arnould and David Holland won a tight 9-8 match, and the Blue Devils never looked back in the sweep.
Sunday evening’s matchup with the Eagles proceeded in similar fashion, and Duke hardly struggled despite its busy weekend in getting its second win of the day against overmatched N.C. Central.
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