The ball hit the let cord, bounced up, hit the cord again...and rolled onto the court for match point.
With that, the Blue Devils won their 24th singles set to complete a perfect weekend in singles play.
After three close 4-3 losses to ranked squads Michigan, California and Pepperdine, No. 10 Duke (11-6, 2-0 in the ACC) opened its conference schedule with two comfortable wins against Wake Forest (6-6, 0-2) Friday and N.C. State (8-6, 0-2) Sunday at Ambler Stadium.
The Blue Devils did so in convincing fashion, sweeping both the Wolfpack and the Demon Deacons 7-0 without dropping a set in singles play.
“In our last four matches things didn’t really go our way,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “Things kind of turned in our favor this time.”
Smith went on to cite the final double-let cord play going Duke’s way as an example of the Blue Devils’ luck changing.
After sweeping the doubles matches against N.C. State for the first point, Luke Marchese raced out to an easy 6-1, 6-2 win at the sixth singles spot to give the Blue Devils their second point. He finished his match before Fred Saba on the next court had even taken the first set.
The Wolfpack has no ranked players on their squad, compared to three for the Blue Devils, and were unable to come back from the early deficit. No. 9 Reid Carleton, on court two, took Duke’s third point 6-2, 6-1, followed closely by Chris Mengel on court four, also in straight sets.
“It was a really good week, starting with our first practice on Tuesday,” Smith said. “I think it set the tone for our two matches. It’s a simple formula, you know, if you focus and practice hard and do the right thing you’re going to play well.”
Although the results showed Duke being the much stronger side, the Wolfpack challenged the Blue Devils and frustrated many players. Duke’s Henrique Cunha was visibly agitated at his own play at times when scraping through to win the first set 7-5.
His match had an international feel to it as it pitted Cunha, a native of Brazil, against Dominic Hodgson from London, one of eight N.C. State players that hail from outside the United States.
After a slow start during the first Cunha finally showed his class and took a commanding lead in the second set, breaking his opponent’s serve first to go up 5-1. The same story was played on courts four and five with Saba and Jared Pinksy all taking big leads in the second after coming through narrowly in the first.
Duke would finish the matchup with the Wolfpack without losing a set, and the Blue Devils dropped only one doubles match throughout the whole weekend.
“All the guys played well. We didn’t drop a set...against two pretty good teams,” Smith said. “I was really happy with how we played. It’s the ideal way to start the ACC season.”
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