The men's tennis team returned to its dominating form on Wednesday afternoon.
After narrowly winning its two weekend matches, No. 9 Duke (11-3) swept past No. 25 Virginia Commonwealth, 7-0, in Richmond.
The Blue Devils' doubles play set the tone for the match. Duke easily won at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, but the Rams' top doubles team bolted out to a 5-2 lead over juniors Rob Chess and Peter Ayers. However, the Blue Devils' duo, ranked No. 4 in the nation, was able to battle back from two breaks down to win the match, 8-6.
"We didn't get too flustered," Ayers said. "We decided to forget what the score was, and that led us to start winning."
Ayers and Chess have played as a doubles tandem for three years, so they feel comfortable on the court together. Their experience made it easy for them to brush off their two-break deficit.
"We've played together so much--we were just laid back and didn't panic," Chess said. "With that attitude, we were fine. Once we got the momentum, the other guys had a lot of trouble."
After winning the point for doubles, Duke had little trouble clinching the victory. Three Blue Devils--Ayers and seniors Chris Pressley and Philippe Moggio--won their singles matches in straight sets.
Pressley knocked off VCU's Boris Kodjoe at the No. 1 singles position, 6-2, 6-4. Kodjoe's strength is his serve, but this did not faze Duke's senior co-captain.
"It was a good matchup for me," Pressley said. "I returned [his serve] pretty well and kept him pinned to the baseline. I really got the rhythm on his serve. I beat him at what he does best, which feels good."
Actually, the Blue Devils' most impressive singles wins came after the match had already been decided. Duke's other three singles players lost in the first set, but fought back to win their matches.
Chess defeated Jonas Elmblad, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, at the No. 2 position. After dropping two matches this weekend, Chess felt that it was important for him to get a win against the Rams--even though he knew that the Blue Devils already had the match in hand.
"I went in with a fresh attitude," Chess said. "Sometimes it's not as important how you are playing as how your attitude is. It's a long season and I know that we're going to go through ups and downs. The most important thing is to have more ups than downs.
"I think winning this match gives me a lot of confidence. When I was down, I knew that I'd enjoy the ride back [to Duke] a lot more if I got a win."
Gusky won his match, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, at the No. 4 singles position. At No. 6, Koehler won, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
"I love it when guys lose a hard first set and then come back to win," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "It shows a lot of guts on their part. That is a good sign for our team."
The Blue Devils' players believe that the mental toughness that Chess, Gusky and Koehler demonstrated in winning their matches--after the team victory had been secured--will help to bolster the team's confidence.
"It was good to see the guys stick with it," Ayers said. "I think it shows a lot of heart."
"It would have been much easier for them just to pack it in," Pressley said.
The Blue Devils and Rams met two weeks ago in the Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery, Ala. Duke won that match, 4-2 (one of the singles matches was suspended). But this time, VCU played without its No. 1 singles player.
"We knew coming into this match that VCU was a very good team," Pressley said. "They're not quite on the same level without their top player, though."
But the Blue Devils will gladly take this kind of result against any kind of opponent.
"The most important thing is that we got the win," Chess said. "Now we can get back on a roll."
Duke next takes on Virginia. The Cavaliers will visit the West Campus Tennis Courts at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
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