The men's tennis team survived a couple of major scares on Saturday and Sunday.
Thanks to the clutch play of several Blue Devils--especially sophomore Sven Koeh-ler--the No. 9 Blue Devils came away with narrow 4-3 wins over No. 22 Florida State and No. 23 Florida.
Florida is a team with which Duke (10-3) is rather familiar with. On Feb. 23, the Blue Devils downed the Gators 5-2 at the National Team Indoors. So the players knew the style of Florida, but this time the win did not come as easily for Duke.
Sunday's match came down to the wire, and Duke had to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win it.
"I think [Florida] is a little bit better outdoor team," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "I knew this would be a tougher match. I didn't know it would be that tough."
The doubles matches were all intense, as Duke picked up the point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Juniors Rob Chess and Peter Ayers, who are ranked fourth in the nation, paired up for an 8-6 win over Gators Wayne Boich and Dillan Fitzgerald, while senior Chris Pressley and junior Nick Walrod picked up the other Duke doubles win, 8-3.
Although the Blue Devils have won every match except one when they capture the doubles point, it appeared from the start that the Gators were on their way to winning.
Pressley and Ayers, at the first and third positions, respectively, were the only Blue Devils that won the first set, and well into the second set, it looked as if Pressley would easily take his match. However, Gator Damon Henkel, ranked No. 13 in the nation, battled back from a 5-2 second-set deficit to win a tiebreaker and force a third set.
Meanwhile, senior Philippe Moggio had fallen to Florida's Brook Blain, 7-5, 6-2. Chess was also defeated in two sets by Jason Appel, 6-3, 6-4.
Although Ayers took the first set, Florida's Boich came back in the second and eventually secured the victory, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. With exuberant shouting, the outspoken Boich announced to the Duke crowd that the Gators only needed "one more" victory to win the match. The Blue Devils were down 3-1 and had their backs against the wall.
"This was one of the best matches I've ever been involved with," Lapidus said. "We were down 3-1, and we were down breaks all over the place. I had sort of chalked it up [as a loss], since they had played too well and we went down.
"But then all of a sudden, we came back. Chris came back and got up a break and then closed off the guy. At the same time [sophomore Adam Gusky] was down a break and he came back. It was definitely one of the top couple gutsiest matches I've ever been involved in."
Gusky's match was the next to finish, as he won a fierce battle over Florida's Randy Baldemor, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Gusky had been down a break at 4-3, but he won a tense final three games to take the match. Nearly simultaneously, Pressley was finally able to down Henkel, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
Then all the attention was focused on the last court. Koehler, who at one point faced a looming 5-3 deficit in the second set after dropping the first, had not quit fighting. The match's outcome rested on the outcome of the No. 6 battle between the sophomore and Florida's Dave Balogh.
"It made me a little nervous," Koehler said. "But I knew all I could do was play my hardest and that was all they could ask of me. I didn't really get as nervous as I thought I would."
With the large crowd's attention--as well as the vocal Gator team's--fully concentrated on this match, the intensity was high. Koehler was down a break in the third set, yet he was able to fight back and pull out his match--and the victory for the Blue Devils--3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
"Sven's matured a lot," Lapidus said. "He's turned over a new leaf--he's been working harder in practice. He's been a very integral part of our matches. I'm really proud of him."
On Saturday, Duke squared off with Atlantic Coast Conference foe Florida State. As one of the emerging forces in ACC men's tennis, the Seminoles are one of the few teams with enough power to challenge Duke's claim to the top spot in the conference. The Blue Devils started out as usual--they captured all three doubles matches to pick up the first point of the match.
However, things on the singles side did not go as easily. The top three singles players all fell to Florida State. Pressley, ranked No. 18, was upset by Seminole Brian Stanton at the first spot, 6-3, 6-1. Ayers was defeated by FSU's Ken McKenzie, 6-4, 6-4.
The only other Blue Devil to lose on Saturday was Chess, but he didn't go down without a fight. Chess lost the first set 6-2, but battled back to force a tiebreaker in the second set. Chess had set point at 7-6 in the tiebreaker when FSU's Antonio Prieto called a controversial shot out. Chess--and the Duke crowd--thought the shot was in, but an official would not overrule the shot when questioned.
Duke's depth proved to be the difference, as wins at the fourth, fifth and sixth positions captured the match. Gusky was the first off the court with a 6-0, 6-4 win, while Moggio also captured an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory. Koehler clinched the match for the Blue Devils at No. 6, also winning a two-set contest.
"I felt comfortable because we had won the doubles [against Florida State] fairly handily," Lapidus said. "The three matches we won were so easy. It became apparent pretty quickly that we were going to win."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.