It came down to the very last match to decide the winner between Wake Forest and Duke. After star freshman and the Blue Devils’ No. 1 singles player, Henrique Cunha, scraped through in a tiebreaker to even the match ledger at 3-3, attention turned to the sixth-seeded singles tie to determine the winner.
In the final match of the night, Luke Marchese won in straight sets and No. 20 Duke (12-6, 5-1 in the ACC) narrowly pulled through to bounce back from its loss to No. 1 Virginia last Sunday.
“That was a heck of a college tennis match, and we were very fortunate to sneak out of here with a win,” Duke head coach Ramsey Smith said.
After the No. 20 Blue Devils took the doubles point by winning all three matches, No. 18 Wake Forest (11-6, 5-2) showed its resiliency and stormed back to win the first set in three of the first five singles matches. David Holland and Reid Carleton leveled their matches in the second set, setting up what would be a gripping end at Leighton Stadium.
“It was one of those matches where it looked like we didn’t have a chance to win,” Smith said. “We had three guys step up today and because of that we have a huge ACC win.”
Tripper Carleton—the Demon Deacon’s No. 1 and younger brother to Duke’s Carleton—managed to push four-time ACC Player of the Week Cunha to three sets, including two tiebreakers. But Cunha was able to stop Carleton’s comeback in the third set and narrowly won the final tiebreaker after saving four match points, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (8-6). No. 11 Cunha’s singles victory marked his 10th straight.
Reid Carleton did one better than his brother and managed to come back from a set down to beat Wake Forest’s Steve Forman—a player whom Smith described as one of the hottest players in the ACC—4-6, 6-1, 6-4, for his 15th victory of the season. The Blue Devils’ close wins set up a showdown in the final match with the win on the line.
“We needed that desperately,” Smith said. “Without Reid [Carleton], we would have had no chance.”
Leighton Stadium is only able to feature five singles matches at a time, meaning sophomore Marchese would have to wait to face Zach Leslie until a court opened up.
The Blue Devil would prove the wait was worthwhile, however, as his win over Leslie in straight sets cemented the victory for Duke. At the meet’s conclusion, Smith paid tribute to the attitude and poise of his players, citing those traits as the key to the victory.
“This was a hard-fought match,” Smith said. “Our guys competed so well.... We lost some tough three-setters, but just hung around and found a way to win.”
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