For the third consecutive year, Duke will compete among the best teams in the nation at the ITA National Team Indoors.
Featuring the 15-highest ranked teams in the country and host institution Washington, the four-day tournament kicks off in Seattle Friday with the ninth-seeded Blue Devils matched up against eighth-seeded Oklahoma in the first round. Duke qualified the last two years and went 2-1 in both seasons, going to the semifinals in 2011.
“It’s been our best event of the year so we certainly feel comfortable with this event,” Smith said. “We can build on the success we’ve had the last couple of years.”
In 2011, the Blue Devils knocked off the then-No. 2 team in the nation, Southern California, 4-3 to open the tournament and also defeated then-No. 11 Florida before falling to then-No. 3 Tennessee. Last season, Duke went 2-1 but lost in the quarterfinals. The Blue Devils recorded two wins against top-10 foes but fell to the then-No. 1 Trojan squad that was en route to its fourth consecutive NCAA championship.
To get to this year’s competition, Duke won the ITA Kickoff Weekend Durham Regional, shutting out Middle Tennessee State and Northwestern in late January. Since then, Smith’s squad has won four of five contests including wins over No. 14 Tennessee and No. 21 Michigan this past weekend.
“These last couple weeks have prepared us well,” Smith said. “We’ve played some really good teams.”
The Blue Devils earned the victory against the Wolverines Feb. 10 despite playing without team No. 1 singler player Henrique Cunha and Chris Mengel—both nursing injuries.
Smith said both are expected back in the lineup Friday, however, when Duke takes on the Sooners for the first time since 1989.
Although the Blue Devils have won both of the matches ever played between the two programs, Oklahoma is staking its claim among the nation’s elite programs. “They’ve been really good since the addition of John Roddick, their head coach who’s Andy Roddick’s brother, and he’s done a great job building a heck of a team,” Smith said.
John Roddick, who has previously served as a coach for Andy and 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Mardy Fish, took over the program in 2009.
Like Duke’s Smith, Roddick inherited a team coming off an 11-win season. In a quick turnaround, he coached the Sooners to 19 wins and the program’s first NCAA tournament quarterfinals appearance. Then, last year Oklahoma won the Big 12 regular season and tournament championships.
This season, the Sooners have dropped only one match so far, losing 4-3 on the road to then-No. 7 Kentucky.
“They’re extremely strong top to bottom,” Smith said. “They have a lot of good international players. So, we’re looking forward to the challenge and excited to play a different team.”
A first-round victory for the Blue Devils may set them up with a match against top-seeded and national No. 1 Virginia.
The Cavaliers have only played two dual matches this Spring, but have three singles players— No. 1 Alex Domijan, No. 5 Mac Styslinger, and No. 7 Jamere Jenkins—ranked in the top 10 nationally, and three doubles teams ranked in the top 15.
They also have an impressive track record at the Indoor Tournament, winning four straight from 2008-2011, which includes the last time the tournament was played in Seattle.
“The key is to focus one match at a time and not get ahead of ourselves,” Smith said. “Everybody is really tough, so it’s really hard at this point to look ahead so we’ll just take it one match at a time and put everything we have into each match, and we feel like good things will happen.”
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