It was a big weekend for the Blue Devils, as they traveled to Charlotte for the 49ers Fall Invitational for their second-to-last fall tournament appearance.
Freshman Sean Sculley managed to bring home two titles, one singles and one doubles alongside junior Jason Lapidus, from the weekend’s play Friday through Sunday. Junior Ryan Dickerson was the only other Duke player to compete in the tournament with associate head coach Jonathan Stokke coaching the trio, as top players Nicolas Alverez, Spencer Furman and Catalin Mateas sat out the weekend.
The Blue Devils ended their weekend perfect on the doubles side, garnering Lapidus' third title of the fall and Sculley’s first. The duo started their 3-0 run by beating Vanderbilt’s Alex Ross and Tate Allwardt 6-2 in the quarterfinals. They then won another 6-2 match against John Karlawish and Klein Evans in the semifinals. In the championship match, they defeated Charlotte’s Ben Wayand and Sam Rice 6-4 on their opponents' home courts.
After a shaky singles performance at last week's ITA Carolina Regional, this weekend brought more of the same for Lapidus and Dickerson. Lapidus fell in the A1 Round of 16 6-3, 6-1, to Tennessee’s Scott Jones. Dickerson also fell in the A1 Round of 16 to Gardner-Webb’s Millen Hurrion.
The tournament was not over for either Lapidus or Dickerson, as they both had a chance to play in the A1 consolation draw. In the quarterfinals, Dickerson defeated Scotty Cameron of Charlotte 6-2, 6-0, and Lapidus also defeated a Charlotte opponent 6-2, 6-4. Dickerson was the only one to advance past the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Richmond’s George Lovitt. Lapidus fell to Vanderbilt’s Panu Virtanen 6-4, 6-2.
Lapidus took third place with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Lovitt. In the consolation final, Dickerson played against Virtanen, the opponent who took out his teammate. Although he was down a set, Dickerson rallied and took home the A1 Consolation title 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Sculley, on the other hand, had a perfect run this weekend to earn his second title in as many days Sunday. Sculley, who played in the A2 division, took out Richmond’s Klein Evans 7-5, 6-4 in a close Round of 16 match on the tournament’s opening day.
On Saturday, along with winning the doubles title, Sculley got two more singles wins under his belt, defeating Vanderbilt’s Tate Allwardt 6-2, 6-1 in the Quarterfinals and Tennessee’s Adam Walton 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. As for the finals, Sculley won a tough 7-5 first set, but breezed through the second set 6-0 against Gardner-Webb's Max Scholl to win the title.
Duke will appear in its last fall tournament in the Wake Forest Fall Invite in Winston Salem, N.C., this weekend.
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