The men's tennis team might have experienced deja vu last weekend at the NCAA team tournament held in Athens, Ga., at the Henry Field Stadium.
After suffering a 4-0 loss to Stanford in the quarterfinals of the tournament last year, the Blue Devils again had to face the Cardinal--this time in the first round and with the undefeated Cardinal (23-0) holding the No. 1 ranking. Duke lost again with a similar score, 4-1, but the play of the two teams was much closer than the score indicated.
Yet the No. 9 Blue Devils never expected to play Stanford in the first round. The 16-team tournament is divided into groups of four, with random draws made for the team matchups. Head coach Jay Lapidus told his players they would be in the 9-12 division, but instead the committee voted to put Duke in the 13-16 group.
"We really got what I thought was a very unjust situation," Lapidus said. "It's a committee vote--they go by wins and losses and they take the rankings into consideration but that's not the primary thing they use. So we were really ranked five to nine all year and then getting in the 13-16 bracket. I thought it was awful."
As if it wasn't bad enough to be placed in a lower bracket, the team had the misfortune of drawing Stanford for its first-round matchup.
"I feel like we were clearly one of the top eight teams in the country--maybe one of the top four teams," Lapidus said. "It's tough to come right in and play a team that's obviously the best team in the country. I really feel like this is the best team I ever had at Duke. To come into a situation like this is very frustrating."
Despite the odds against them, the Blue Devils started out strong in doubles when juniors Rob Chess and Peter Ayers shocked the second-ranked doubles team of Paul Goldstein and Scott Humphries 8-5. Although seniors Philippe Moggio and Chris Pressley were defeated in the second doubles match, the duo of junior Nick Walrod and sophomore Adam Gusky still had a chance to claim the doubles point when they went up 5-1 in a tiebreaker.
This season, Duke was 19-0 when it won the doubles point, and this point could have provided the team with momentum heading into the singles matches. Stanford's team of Grant Elliott and Jeff Salzenstein were too strong as they charged back from the deficit to win six straight points and the match, 9-8.
"We had a chance--we were up 5-1 in a tiebreaker," Lapidus said. "Stanford got break point and they closed out the doubles point. It changes the emotional complexion of a match. We played a real good match. We felt like we had a chance."
In singles play, Duke's lone win came at the No. 1 position when Pressley overpowered Salzenstein to win, 6-3, 6-3. The Blue Devils could not come up with an upset of the Cardinal, though. Stanford won three of the six singles matches to earn the win. Humphries defeated Chess, 6-3, 6-3, and Goldstein pulled out a 6-1, 6-2 win over Ayers. Moggio came close to defeating Elliott at the No. 5 spot, but lost two tiebreakers to fall 7-6, 7-6.
Gusky's and sophomore Sven Koehler's matches were suspended after Stanford won the match with the fourth point.
On May 7, Duke--as the No. 1 seed--won the NCAA Region II tournament in Norfolk, Va., by defeating Virginia Commonwealth 4-0 to advance to the NCAA championships. In their first match of the regional tournament, the Blue Devils beat Clemson 4-1.
Duke wasted no time in beating VCU by winning the doubles point and recording victories at numbers four through six singles with wins coming from Gusky, Moggio and Koehler. No one from VCU won more than four games in any set of all three of these matches. The first, second and third singles matches were suspended once Duke clinched the win.
"We played really well at the regionals," Lapidus said. "[The VCU match] was probably the best match we've played all year. We played some of our best tennis that weekend."
Despite the disappointment of losing in the first round of the championships, there are several bright spots still remaining in the Blue Devils' season. Three Duke players are still competing in the NCAA individuals. Fifteenth-ranked Pressley advanced to the second round by defeating No. 59 Ross Loel from Minnesota, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, on Wednesday. Chess, who is ranked No. 25, will also compete in the second round. Chess easily downed Reed Cordish of Princeton, 6-3, 6-2.
Pressley, a two-time All-America and four-time All-ACC selection, advanced to the round of 16 last season in the tournament, while Chess--a two-time All-ACC pick--is making his first appearance in individual competition. In addition, Chess will combine with Ayers to play in the 32-team doubles competition. The 14th-ranked duo will face No. 24 Chris Hill and Michael Jessup from Pepperdine in the first round today.
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