For nearly five hours on a windy afternoon, Duke and North Carolina were stuck in a back-and-forth battle for rivalry bragging rights.
The No. 18 Tar Heels (12-5, 9-1 in the ACC) eventually beat out the No. 5 Blue Devils (18-4, 7-2) 4-3 in what was the final home match for Duke seniors Torsten Wietoska, David Holland and Luke Marchese. The three seniors have combined for 155 and 134 victories in singles and doubles, respectively, and have led the Blue Devils to a 76-31 overall record in the last four years.
“They have all done a lot,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “And I thought that today, the two who played, played amazing. Holland, that was one of the better matches I have seen him play and Torsten stepped up and beat probably their best spot. Unfortunately, Luke has been a little hurt, so he was not able to go out there today. It was a tough way to end senior day, but I thought they played well.”
North Carolina grabbed the quick lead in the match by winning two of the three doubles matches—only the second time Duke has lost the doubles point in its last 10 matches. After Holland and Fred Saba won their match against Tar Heels Esben Hess-Olesen and Oystein Steiro 8-3, Cale Hammond and Raphael Hemmeler fell 8-5 for their first loss in five matches. The deciding match came down to a meeting between the No. 28 doubles team of Duke’s Henrique Cunha and Chris Mengel and the No. 30 team of North Carolina’s Joey Burkhardt and Jose Hernandez. The Tar Heel pair quickly dismantled Duke 8-1.
The Blue Devils came out fighting in singles play, though, claiming all six first sets. Hemmeler was the first to finish his match, notching a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Burkhardt. He is now 11-1 at the No. 5 singles position this season. Saba gave Duke a 2-1 lead by beating William Parker 6-1, 6-3, followed by Wietoska’s 7-5, 6-2 win against Hess-Olesen. Duke needed one more win to seal a victory, but it was not able to capitalize.
After claiming the first set, Cunha, the country’s No. 4 ranked singles player, fell to No. 33 Hernandez 6-2, 1-6, 5-7. Jason Tahir, similar to Cunha, could not keep his momentum going after a first-set win and lost 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 3-6. Tied at 3-3, the No. 2 singles game of No. 28 Mengel and No. 103 Brennan Boyajian went to a third set after Mengel took the first, 6-4, and Boyajian took the next 7-6 (7-2). But, at the 3-2 changeover of the third set, Mengel called a medical timeout for a leg cramp.
“It was a phenomenal effort. I didn’t know if he was going to be able to get up off the changeover,” Smith said. “At 3-2, just to make it to the other side of the court, he actually had game points in the last two games once he got to four all—it was just all heart and I am really proud of him.”
In severe pain, Mengel hobbled back onto the court to continue playing but had to stretch in between points and revert to an underhand serve for his first few points back on the court. He held on, pushing Boyajian to 4-4, before finally falling 6-4 in the final set.
“There is a chance that we can play them again in the ACC tournament,” Smith said. “I just told the guys in the locker room that it is not the last match of the year, and it is not the most important match of the year. All our goals are moving forward.”
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