The sun began to set on Duke’s 2025 regular season with its penultimate weekend in the Golden State.
In a West Coast weekend series, No. 15 Duke lost Friday 4-3 to No. 10 Cal in a narrowly-decided match determined by several third-set stretches. Traveling south of the Bay Sunday to face No. 9 Stanford, Duke was dealt another defeat 4-0 to close out the weekend.
“Tough to lose two matches,” head coach Ramsey Smith said at the conclusion of the weekend. “They were great teams that we played. I thought we did a lot of things really well.”
After playing two weeks at home, Duke (15-7, 8-4 in the ACC) traveled across the country. First on the docket was Cal (18-2, 10-2) looking to continue a nine-match win streak heading into the weekend. With Duke star Cooper Williams missing from action this weekend due to injury, the doubles partnerships were scrambled from their usual couplets.
“We were without Cooper, which makes things tougher,” Smith said. “That made things more challenging, but I thought we did a great job handling that and the next guys stepping in.”
Despite the shake-up, the Blue Devils set a commanding tone with a swift 6-2 doubles victory on court one by Pedro Rodenas and Andreja Petrovic followed closely by a 6-4 set win on court three by Remy Dugardin and Gerard Planelles Ripoll, leaving court two unfinished.
“Our doubles has been great,” Smith said. “Winning the doubles at Cal really set the momentum.”
As singles play commenced and first sets were decided, the Golden Bears looked poised to shift the momentum in their favor. Duke’s Jake Krug claimed his first set on court six as California took the first set on courts one, three and five — meanwhile, courts two and four stretched into tiebreakers. Connor Krug secured his tiebreaker 7-1 while Dugardin fell 7-5.
The Golden Bears’ first-set lead turned into straight-set victories on courts two, three and five, sending the team tally to 3-1. Only one point was needed to claim the team victory for California. The Krug twins, each of whom had won their respective first sets, both dropped their second set. But Rodenas fought back from a first-set loss to claim the second 6-2 against 11th-ranked Carl Emil Overbeck. All three remaining matches stretched into the third set — Duke would need all three if it hoped to pull out a win.
Rodenas capitalized on a mid-set break of serve to close his third set 6-3 and claim another singles point for the Blue Devils. Shortly after, Jake Krug playing on court six clinched his third set 6-4 to send the team score to a 3-3 tie.
“Jake stepped up and beat a really good Cal six,” Smith said. “His opponent was 12-1 on the year before Jake beat him, and Jake played a really good match.”
The fate of the match rested now on the shoulders of Connor Krug, battling for the third set and the team victory on court four. However, a mid-set break for the sophomore Golden Bear Timofey Stepanov gave him a 4-3 lead, which was carried through to a 6-4 set victory, sealing the team win for California.
“The Cal match was an amazing match start to finish,” Smith said. “It didn’t go our way at the end, but [I] loved our team energy, loved the way we competed and we put ourselves in great position.”
In Palo Alto, a new opponent in Stanford (18-5, 9-3) awaited the Blue Devils. The teams took the court at the all-new Taube Pavilion, the covered outdoor tennis complex anointed by the Cardinal just over a month ago.
Having won the doubles point in the previous five consecutive matches, the Blue Devils were once again looking to take an early lead. Duke and Stanford split courts two and three while Rodenas and Petrovic — reprising their role from Friday —found themselves on serve late into the set. With Petrovic serving 4-5 and 30-30, an errant volley from Rodenas and a passing shot winner from the Cardinal took the set and the doubles point for Stanford.
As the first sets in singles were decided, Duke seemed geared up to take the momentum in the match as Rodenas, Petrovic and Alexander Visser each quickly claimed first sets while Stanford claimed two. Jake Krug — again on court six — extended his first set to a tiebreaker. The score went 2-2 before the opposing Cardinal won five consecutive points to take the set.
“Jake played a really good match today, so [I’m] excited about him,” Smith said. “Visser stepped up and won the first set today against a really good player.”
Despite splitting first sets, the momentum quickly shifted to Stanford’s favor as it claimed swift straight-set victories on courts two and four to send the team tally to 3-0 for the Cardinal. Rodenas and Visser each extended their matches to a third set; however, before play could get meaningfully underway, Stanford’s Hudson Rivera on court six claimed a decisive straight-set win 7-6(2), 6-2 to solidify the Cardinal’s 4-0 sweep. The match lasted just more than two hours.
“A big thing we're focusing on is just full competitive team spirit from start to finish, and just focusing on the controllable stuff,” Smith said. “Despite the losses, I actually felt like we did a great job with those things.”
Duke will play its final match of the regular season Saturday at North Carolina.
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