The men's tennis team saw its season come to an end Saturday, falling to No. 5 Southern California, 4-1, in the first round of the NCAA Championships in Athens, Georgia.
Senior Peter Ayers garnered the lone point for the Blue Devils, as he downed the Trojan's Lucas Havorka, 6-2, 6-2 in the third singles spot.
Senior Rob Chess and junior Sven Koehler were both leading in their singles matches when the competition was abruptly halted by a power outage. After a considerable delay, the match was resumed-only it had to be continued indoors where there were only two available courts. Instead of having all six singles matches resume simultaneously, as is the standard, the matches that were the closest to completion were resumed first.
"We've won other matches this year where we've had to go indoors," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "So that wasn't really a reason or an excuse for the loss. We played absolutely as hard as we could, and I was really proud of the guys. We fought tooth and nail the whole way, but they were just a little bit better team than we were."
After the lengthy delay, Chess resumed his No. 1 singles match against USC's Cecil Mamiit. Mamiit recovered from a one-set deficit to down Chess 5-7, 7-6, 7-6.
"Rob played a great match there," Lapidus said. "Mamiit's been ranked close to number one for most of the year. That was one of the best matches that I have ever seen with one of my playersDthe situation, the level of tennis... He ended up cramping up at 5-4 in the third. The heart he showed in that match was incredible."
Koehler had taken the first set from Manuel Ramirez, but couldn't maintain his momentum in the No. 2 singles match as he lost the last two sets, 6-3, 6-3.
The third singles' point for USC came in the No. 4 singles match as Fernando Samayoa defeated senior Jordan Murray, 6-4, 6-4.
The Trojans claimed the first point of the day as they took the first two doubles matches. The team of Kyle Spencer and Mamiit defeated Koehler and freshman Dmitry Muzyka, 8-3. In the second match, Ramirez and Samayoa downed Ayers and freshman Jordan Wile, 8-3 as well.
This year's appearance in the NCAA tournament represented the Blue Devils' fifth trip in a row and their sixth overall. The team's best showings came in 1993 and 1994 when they advanced to the quarterfinals. The loss left Duke's final record at 20-6 on the year.
"We had a great year," Lapidus said. "To win the ACC tournament and to make to the NCAA round of 16 shows the hard work we've done and the great senior leadership we've had. Obviously we always want to do better, but looking back on it all, this has been a real successful year."
With Duke eliminated from the team competition, the attention shifted to the NCAA individual tournament where Duke is represented by singles players Chess and Muzyka and the doubles team of Koehler and Muzyka.
On Wednesday, Chess advanced to the second round by defeating Daniel Pahlsson of Arkansas, 7-6, 6-1.
"He played a little bit tired in the first set, but then he had a little bit more energy in the second set and he came through nicely," Lapidus said. "Sometimes you get those first round jitters, but he handled it pretty well. Hopefully he can keep rolling from here."
Chess is currently ranked 13th nationally and will face the No. 43 ranked Ramirez of USC today.
Muzyka, ranked 42nd, was not as fortunate as he was forced to default his match because of leg cramps. Colorado's Marc Bauer came away with the victory and was leading at the time 6-4, 6-7, 3-2.
"[Muzyka] was up a break in the third when the cramps started hitting him in his legs and his hand," Lapidus said. "He couldn't walk, he couldn't run, he couldn't play and he ended up having to go to the hospital for four and a half hours. He's back in the room tonight and he's OK, so he'll play doubles [today]. Up to now they've had, I think 10 guys in there with heat exhaustion, so it's been really tough down here."
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