An all-time high four members of the men's tennis team will be traveling to the exclusive National Indoor Invitational Championships in Dallas this weekend to culminate their indoor seasons.
The tournament, held from Feb. 6-9, is limited to just 32 participants in singles and 16 teams in doubles competition.
For coach Jay Lapidus, the two doubles team and one singles player assured of going to the tournament is historic for Duke.
"We've never had four people go to the tournament before, and we have two out of the top 16 doubles teams in the country," he said.
Duke is most likely to make a strong showing in the meet in doubles competition, sending the nationally ranked No. 4 doubles team of senior Sven Koehler and sophomore Dmitry Muzyka, and the team of sophomore Jordan Wile and freshman Doug Root.
Muzyka and Koehler compiled a 3-1 record over the indoor season, and are likely to make it to the Final Four of the tournament. Muzyka returned to the court this year after garnering last year's ACC Rookie of the Year award and earning All-ACC status.
Root and Wile are the question mark in the tournament for Duke-while they are ranked No. 17 nationally, they had a perfect 13-0 record in the regular season.
"They're almost unknown how good they really are since they haven't lost a match," Lapidus said.
In singles competition, Root will be the only Blue Devil assured of participating. Duke's No. 1 ranked singles player, Muzyka, did not get a chance to qualify for the tournament because he was injured during the qualifying meet. Additional slots in the field of 32 are filled by national ranking, but as of press time, it was not certain whether his No. 18 national ranking would be high enough to qualify.
Root, ranked No. 47 nationally, qualified for the meet in early November at the Rolex National Indoors. The freshman has set new landmarks for the team this season.
"We've never had a freshman whose qualified or even come that close to qualifying before," Lapidus said. "It wouldn't surprise me at all if he did some damage at the tournament. He could take some people by surprise."
Root, with an overpowering serve and an aggressive playing style, has thus far compiled a singles record of 11-4 for the season and a doubles record of 13-0 with partner Wile.
"It's been a great experience and I'm happy to be doing as well as I am," Root said.
Although the tournament is not an official match for Duke team competition, it gives the individual players a chance to work individually and try to improve their national ranking. Duke does not have another individual meet until the NCAA tournament.
"It's our last warmup before the real stuff begins," Lapidus said.
And the real stuff begins on Feb. 12, when the Blue Devils kick off team competition at home against Furman.
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