After two full weeks without match play, the Blue Devils look to continue their hot 2015 season with a double header Saturday.
Duke, having climbed up to No. 4 in the latest ITA national rankings, will face Coastal Carolina and UNC-Charlotte at home in Durham this weekend. The double header is set to be the Blue Devils’ first outdoor matches of the season, provided that wintry conditions not render the outdoor courts at the Sheffield Tennis Center unsuitable for play.
Duke entered the past two weeks of rest after a busy start to February, which featured six matches in 10 days, including the ITA championships. The Blue Devils’ overall record in that ten day time span was an impressive 5-1.
“[The past two weeks off] have been very good for us,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “We had a couple guys a little bit dinged up and we had obviously played a lot of matches—a lot of really tough matches—in a short period of time, and so we used last week just to recharge. We had a couple lighter days of practice, and then this week was a full week of practice."
Duke’s sole loss in the ITAs was a 4-1 defeat to Baylor, in which the Blue Devils lost the double point, as well as three singles matches. The singles players who were downed by their Baylor opponent all had played doubles before, so the emphasis of the Duke’s next to weeks of practice had become clear—doubles and conditioning.
“This past week, we were able to get a full week of practice in,” Smith said. “We got in a lot of work and a lot of conditioning getting ready for this weekend. This week, we also focused a lot on doubles. Playing a lot of doubles sets and conditioning: those were the two main focuses… That doubles point is certainly a key point, especially against the top teams.”
Duke’s first match of the double header will be against Coastal Carolina, and is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Chanticleers are 5-2 this season, with wins against Wofford, Francis Marion, USC Upstate, the Citadel and East Carolina. Their losses have come against UNC-Wilmington and Virginia Tech. Coastal Carolina is also operating on two weeks of rest.
On the other hand, UNC-Charlotte is playing Duke on only three days of rest, having most recently taken on Wofford Jan. 23, a 4-1 victory for the 49ers in Spartanburg, S.C. The 49ers are 4-1 on the season, with additional wins coming against North Carolina A&T, Norfolk State and UNC-Greensboro, and a loss against Wake Forest. Charlotte is scheduled to play Duke at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“Both Coastal and Carolina are solid,” Smith said. “They’ve improved a lot over the last couple of years, they have gotten deeper and they also have some really good players at the top of the lineup. So I think they are going to be good matches for us, and we are definitely going to need to be ready to go.”
Coastal Carolina is most likely to start Philippe Tsangarides at the No. 1 singles spot, and UNC-Charlotte’s lineup will most likely feature Forrest Edwards in that position. Whoever plays in the No. 1 singles position will have to face Duke’s freshman phenom, Nicolas Alvarez, who is currently ranked the No. 9 singles player in the nation by the ITA and was just named ACC Player of the Week for the second time.
“[Alvarez’s Player of the Week honor] is just well-deserved,” Smith said. “It is not shocking, it is not surprising, based on how well he has played and the people he has beaten. There has been so many good players and so many good teams, and he has earned it. The exciting thing is that he still has room for growth and he is still getting better.”
Given the most recent winter storm; however, it is uncertain whether the double header will be played as scheduled. Smith conceded that it is unlikely that the matches will be played on the Sheffield Center’s outdoor courts, and there is a slight possibility that one or both of the teams will not be able to attend due to hazardous driving conditions.
“Ideally, we want to play every match the rest of the year outdoors,” Smith said. “We are entering the ACC season, and we are going to try to play everything outside, but weather has not really cooperated this week. Let’s be honest, it does not look that great for this Saturday.”
Following Saturday’s double header, Duke will have a week off before beginning ACC play Sunday, March 8 at Virginia Tech. The ACC season will consist of 12 matches against 12 different ACC opponents, and culminate with the ACC Tournament, to be held from April 23-26 in Cary, N.C.
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Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.