After a hard-fought win over Michigan to begin their season, the Blue Devils are eager to once again take on the competition at the ITA Kick-off Weekend.
No. 10 Duke will open the event Saturday with a matchup against Virginia Commonwealth, and if the team wins, it will take on the winner of Washington and Louisville Sunday. This weekend’s tournament holds added significance and pressure as a qualifying event for the National Indoor tournament, but after a successful fall season and productive winter break, the Duke men are ready to get on the courts.
“One of our main goals is to peak for the national indoors,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “We have to win both matches to advance to the final sixteen.”
Duke’s confidence-boosting win against Michigan helped ease some of the early season nerves experienced by the younger players and put the Blue Devils in a good position heading into the tournament. The victory also provided a stage for Duke’s top player—seventh-ranked junior Henrique Cunha, who came back from a 5-1 deficit in his first set against No. 6 Evan King to take the match 7-5, 6-1 and in doing so proved his readiness to take on the tough matches that he will continue to face throughout the spring season.
“Cunha saved us against Michigan,” Smith said. “He won 12 out of his last 13 games. He’s our leader, he’s our man, he’s our rock, and he’s playing with a lot of confidence right now.”
Cunha is not the only Blue Devil experiencing success on the courts. Several new doubles combinations, including Cunha’s own with sophomore Fred Saba, are working well for the team. Cunha and Saba currently hold the top doubles position for the Duke team with a record of 4-0 this spring season, while freshman Raphael Hemmeler and senior Torsten Wietoska hold the second spot and senior David Holland and sophomore Chris Mengel play third for the team. In addition to its overarching goal of advancing through the tournament, the team will be using this weekend as an opportunity to get used to these fairly new doubles lineups.
“Doubles is so important in this format,” Smith said. “It’s a big point because if you win the point, you only have to win half of the singles, but if you lose… it kind of puts a lot of pressure on you.”
The men are holding their own in singles play as well. Smith mentioned Wietoska and Mengel as two players who, along with Cunha, have been performing exceptionally well in their matches. As a result of their success in all areas of the game, the Blue Devils are looking forward to their next challenge with high spirits.
“In singles, everybody’s playing well, especially after last weekend,” Cunha said. “We lost the doubles point, and four guys stepped up and won their matches, so I think everybody’s feeling pretty good.”
Saturday, the Blue Devils will be facing Virginia Commonwealth, led by Finnish junior Max Wennakoski and a largely international roster which boasts players from seven countries and just one American player. Should the Blue Devils defeat the Rams Saturday, they will either face Louisville—with the 24th-ranked doubles team of senior Andrew Carter and freshman Sebastian Stiefelmeyer—or No. 15 junior Kyle McMorrow and his teammates from Washington. All three of Duke’s potential opponents are ranked in the ITA top 50, and Duke needs two wins to continue advancing in the first major tournament of the spring.
“There’s a lot riding on this weekend,” Smith said, “and we’re ready to go.”
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