There weren't too many surprises for the nationally-ranked Blue Devils this weekend.
The men's tennis team got its season off to a roaring start by crushing two unranked teams. The Blue Devils waxed Furman on Saturday, 7-0, at the Chapel Hill Tennis Club, and followed with another victory on Sunday over the Virginia Tech Hokies, 5-2.
No. 5 Duke showed its strength to the Paladins as soon as play began. Furman was clearly the weaker team, as each Blue Devil completed his match in straight sets. The Duke doubles teams also had little trouble in downing the Paladins.
"Some years Furman has some pretty competitive teams," Duke head coach Jay Lapidus said. "This year they weren't that strong. The discrepancy between the two teams was pretty large."
Although the Blue Devils return all their starters from last year, freshman Sebastien Gobbi saw action in his first collegiate team match against Furman, and he was able to continue the winning for Duke. Gobbi defeated Paladin Will Shelley, 6-3, 6-1.
"Sebastien did great," Lapidus said. "He's a hard worker, and he's going to get a lot better. He's got some big weapons to use."
However, Sunday's match wasn't as easy for the Blue Devils as the previous day's had been. The Hokies gave somewhat of a challenge to the Duke players, and the Blue Devils could not complete back-to-back shutouts. Two Hokies came away with wins from the Blue Devils.
Senior Chris Pressley, who is currently unranked because he did not play in the fall, fell to Virginia Tech's Oliver Mayo, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
"The guy [Chris] played is very talented," Lapidus said. "[Mayo] really played above himself."
Pressley suffered a minor ankle injury two weeks ago while practicing for the National Indoors, and his movement has not been up to its normal level since then. The All-American sat out the fall season due to arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder, and has not had much match play due to that surgery and his recent injury.
"Chris is only playing at about 90 percent [on his ankle]," Lapidus said. "It was a really good match. His ankle is still a little bit sensitive. He hasn't been able to do the movement drills that used to keep him so quick."
While Duke was never in danger of losing the match, Virginia Tech was also able to come away with another point at the No. 6 position. Hokie Chad Toleafoa defeated junior Jordan Murray, 6-4, 6-0.
The only other match that was in doubt was a three-setter at the No. 3 spot. Junior Peter Ayers escaped a tough start to come away with a victory for the Blue Devils over Virginia Tech's Maref Pfeil, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4.
"Peter didn't play good in the first set," Lapidus said. "[Pfeil] played unbelievably well. Peter got a lot better in the last two sets. It was a real good match for him."
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