SPORTS  |  TENNIS

Duke men's tennis heads to Tennessee, Michigan on first road trip

<p>Vincent Lin and the Blue Devils will look to bounce back from a rough few weekends at home with a change of scenery on the road.</p>

Vincent Lin and the Blue Devils will look to bounce back from a rough few weekends at home with a change of scenery on the road.

Hoping to right the ship after four straight losses, No. 25 Duke takes to the road against a pair of unranked opponents this weekend.

The Blue Devils will travel to Knoxville, Tenn., to compete against Tennessee Friday, and then fly to Ann Arbor, Mich., for their second contest of the weekend, a match against Michigan. Duke has had to endure a tough early schedule, with three of the four losses coming against ranked opponents.

“It has really been a couple points in all these matches,” Duke head coach Ramsey Smith said. “If we had won a couple of these points, we would be feeling great.… We have got to stay positive and realize that the season is still young.”

The Blue Devils (1-4) will take the court at 6 p.m. for their match against the Volunteers Friday. Duke will leave Durham Thursday and get in two practices before playing against Tennessee. The match will be the team's first road contest of the season, and the Blue Devils’ five freshmen will be traveling for the first time.

“This is our first real road trip with the new group,” Smith said. “Playing on the road is full focus on your matches, it is good team bonding and we enjoy playing in tough environments—Tennessee should be a good start.”

Tennessee’s match against Duke will be its second consecutive game against an ACC opponent, having lost 4-0 to then-No. 9 Wake Forest Jan. 26. If the Volunteers’ showing against the Demon Deacons is any sign of what is to come against the Blue Devils, then Duke should be in good shape. Luis Valero, a native of Cali, Colombia, leads the charge for Tennessee (5-1) at the No. 1 singles spot, where he will face off against Nicolas Alvarez, who hails from Lima, Peru. Freshman Timo Stodder is at the No. 2 singles spot and will play T.J. Pura. Stodder has impressed so far in his college debut and currently holds a 5-0 record in singles play including the fall slate.

“[Tennessee] is a really different and new team,” Smith said. “A lot of new faces, very similar to Illinois and Northwestern. We may not have seen some of their guys, but they always play hard and they always play good doubles. We are trying to focus right now on us, and on controlling what we can control.”

Tennessee's lone ranked singles player, No. 79 Igor Smelyanski, has not played in the team's two most recent matches, with Valero stepping into the top spot. A singles lineup without ranked players bodes well for a Blue Devil team with No. 12 Alvarez on court one and Pura ranked just outside the top 100. The Volunteers, though, boast the No. 23-ranked doubles pairing of Valero and Jack Schipanski, who will face off against Alvarez and freshman Vincent Lin on court one. Alvarez and Lin are 4-1 this season, with their only loss coming to No. 7 Jordan Angus and Filip Vittek of San Diego.

“Doubles is so fast—it is one set to six with no [advantage scoring],” Smith said. “It is more concerned with taking care of your service games and trying to work your way into their service games. Almost all doubles matches are competitive at a certain level, and it really just comes down to a couple points.”

After the match against the Volunteers, Duke will travel north to play Michigan (2-1). While the Blue Devils are in Knoxville Friday, the Wolverines will play a double-header against Cleveland State and Detroit in their home Varsity Tennis Center. Michigan has impressed in limited action this season, with two decisive victories against Princeton and Cornell and a close 4-3 loss to Kentucky, a team that beat Duke by the same margin in Durham Jan. 17.

Smith said that the team would wait to game plan for Michigan until after the Tennessee match. Junior Jathan Malik leads the way for the Wolverines at the No. 1 singles spot and will have the tough task of facing Alvarez. Like the Blue Devils, Michigan is trying to acclimate a young roster to the challenges of high-level competition, featuring four freshmen on its roster.

“We have not yet had all six guys playing their best at the same time,” Smith said. "In the dual match format, that is the key, and we have just been a little up and down. I think some of that is with the youth, but we are just trying to get a little more consistent with what we bring to every match.”


Jacob Weiss

Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Duke men's tennis heads to Tennessee, Michigan on first road trip” on social media.