Reid Carleton had an iron grip on the point. Taking a short ball early, the Duke junior pounded a shot deep into the forehand corner of Virginia’s Sanam Singh. As Carleton stepped up to finish the point, however, Singh reached back and sliced a perfect cross-court winner.
Carleton was not alone. The top-ranked Cavaliers seemed to be just one shot better than Duke (11-6, 4-1 in the ACC) all day, scraping past the Blue Devils 4-3 Sunday at Ambler Tennis Stadium.
“They played well and they really won it there at the end,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “I thought we competed well. We put ourselves in position to win and just came up a little short.”
Duke began its upset bid on a great note, turning in one of its gutsiest doubles performances of the season. After conceding No. 3 doubles 8-0, the Blue Devils faced pivotal points in both of the other matches.
Carleton and freshman Henrique Cunha, the third-ranked duo in the nation, looked poised to cruise to victory with a 7-4 lead. Fifteen minutes later, Virginia (27-1, 7-0) had closed the gap to 7-6 and held a 30-15 lead on Duke’s serve. The Blue Devils buckled down, however, and came back to cut the Cavaliers’ comeback short for an 8-6 win. Shortly thereafter Dylan Arnould and David Holland matched their teammates’ feat, earning a hard-fought 9-7 win over Singh and Houston Barrick.
“Our doubles was fantastic at one and two,” Smith said. “I thought David Holland really stepped up at number two. Those guys have clinched a lot of matches for us. That set the tone and put us in a good position.”
Duke carried that momentum right into singles, racing out to leads in four of the six first sets. Sophomore Torsten Wietoska started hotter than any other, gaining an early break en route to a 5-2 lead. The height and huge serve of opponent Drew Courtney began to take its toll, however, and Courtney fought back to force a tiebreak. Wietoska couldn’t get back on track, and ended up falling 7-4 to drop the first set.
As the day wore on, the Cavaliers gained on the Blue Devils, and eventually the tide of the whole match shifted toward the favorites.
“There were a lot of momentum shifts, really on all the courts,” Smith said. “I think Singh winning that second set and Torsten losing that first set, since I know he had a lot of opportunities down there, really turned things around.”
Carleton played a fantastic first set against Singh, the ninth-ranked singles player in the country, but Virginia’s number two raised his game to a whole new level in the second set. He had an answer for every big shot Carleton hit, one-upping the Duke junior time after time on his way to a 6-3 victory to force a third set.
Cunha did not let his teammates’ results affect his play, as he finished off third-ranked Michael Shabaz 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets. Jarmere Jenkins of Virginia had taken care of Dylan Arnould in straight sets, and David Holland likewise fell quickly. Wietoska yielded to his foe in the second set as well, leaving Carleton and Luke Marchese in must-win situations.
Marchese held up his end of the deal, downing Lee Singer in an emotional second-set tiebreak to win 7-5, 7-6.
Carleton, on the other hand, could not match up to Singh’s skill and experience down the stretch, eventually bowing out 6-2 in the third to finish off the match.
“Singh played unbelievable tennis at the end there,” Smith said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for him. It wasn’t something Reid gave away. [Singh] went out and won that.”
The weekend wasn’t a complete loss, though, as Duke knocked off No. 18 Virginia Tech 6-1 Friday. The Blue Devils have a chance to get back on track Wednesday at Wake Forest.
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