The 11th-ranked men's tennis team continued its opening weekend of dual matches with a 4-2 win over No. 18 Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday.
Duke upped its record to 2-0, winning its opening match over Virginia Tech last Thursday.
"I was really happy," Blue Devil head coach Jay Lapidus said. "The VCU team is very, very good. I was looking forward to the match... When you have new people in there, different team chemistry, you always wonder how the first really tough matches will turn out."
After missing senior Peter Ayers from the lineup against the Hokies, the Blue Devils returned a full roster against a strong VCU team. Duke's doubles teams garnered the first point of the match, as the 10th-ranked team of Ayers and classmate Rob Chess took little time in downing Virginia Commonwealth's Boris Kodjoe and Olivier Tauma, 8-3.
"Rob and Pete played some of the best doubles I've seen them play in a long time," Lapidus said. "The team they played against was good, and Rob and Pete just killed them. The other team was just shaking their heads in disbelief at how well they were returning serve."
Junior Sven Koehler and freshman Dmitry Muzyka picked up the No. 2 doubles match, defeating VCU's Jonas Elmblad and Pascal Salascia, 8-6.
Chess and Muzyka continued to down the Rams in singles, as Chess, ranked 15th nationally, slipped past Kodjoe, 7-6, 7-6. Muzyka, despite being down early, rallied back to earn a 6-4, 6-1 victory over VCU's Richard Wernerhjelm, who is also ranked 15th nationally.
"At No. 2, that was a great win for [Dmitry] as a freshman coming in," Lapidus said. "He was down four-love in the first set and then ran off 10 games in a row. Dmitry's really good, and he's showing it already. He doesn't play at all like a freshman; things just don't seem to affect him. It's amazing."
Senior Jordan Murray captured the Blue Devils' fourth point at the sixth slot, downing Salascia in a three-setter, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. After the match was clinched by Duke, Ayers and Elmblad did not finish their match at No. 4. Junior Adam Gusky was also still playing after the match was decided, but his opponent, Sebastien Preashaut, refused to leave the point undecided, so Preashaut technically picked up a victory.
"Adam actually didn't lose the match, because it was 4-3 in the third," Lapidus said. "We just stopped them and the other guy just didn't want to stop. Adam has had back problems, so once the match was over we just wanted to stop it. He didn't really lose the match."
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