Despite injuries to three top players, the men's tennis team added a pair of wins to its record this weekend, decisively defeating both South Carolina and Maryland.
On Friday, No. 8 Duke showed that it could easily handle a ranked team with a 5-2 win at No. 32 South Carolina.
Although not ranked in the top 25, South Carolina (10-2) entered the match with only one loss, against top-five ranked Mississippi State.
"It was a good win for us," said freshman Porter Jones. "Even though they weren't a highly ranked team, they were a good team,"
Duke (5-3, 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) won two out of the three doubles matches, as the No. 2 team of Alberto Brause and Sebastian Gobbi lost 9-8 in a tie breaker.
Freshman Doug Root, ranked No. 34 in the country, pulled off an upset in the No. 1 singles competition, defeating 14th-ranked Keith Brill, in two sets, winning 7-6, 6-3.
After losing the first set, Brause, a junior, came back to win in the No. 2 singles match. Brause, ranked No. 84 nationally, downed Jerome Jourdon 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
It was in the No. 3 singles match that Duke suffered its real loss. Senior co-captain Adam Gusky sprained his ankle midway through the second set of his match with No. 32 Jorge Esqueda. The match was suspended with South Carolina leading 6-4, 5-5.
Gusky's injury is the latest in a string for Duke, and although Gusky is expected to return soon, teammates Dmitry Muzyka and Sven Kohler are out for several more weeks. Muzyka, last year's ACC Rookie of the Year, is currently nursing a broken foot and senior co-captain Kohler has a broken wrist.
With only nine players on Duke's roster, the three injuries strain the Blue Devils down to the wire to fill out the playing spots.
"We're a small squad anyway," Jones said. "We don't really have any more people left."
Despite the injuries, the Blue Devils were still able to blow out Maryland in their ACC opener, winning 7-0 at the Duke Tennis Stadium on Saturday.
"It's just nice to get a win under your belt in the conference," coach Jay Lapidus said.
Because Maryland (4-3, 0-1 in the ACC) does not give scholarships for men's tennis, the No. 18 Blue Devils were not expecting too rough of a match.
"Maryland is usually our easiest conference match," Lapidus said. "It was pretty expected that we would win pretty handily."
The Blue Devils took only two sets to win all three doubles matches and all six singles matches. In the No. 1 singles match, Root defeated Dal Cathell 7-6, 6-2 and Brause defeated Collin Parker 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles match.
Duke's singles play was impressive in its lower seeded matches, as two underclassmen stepped up. The No. 4 seed, Jones, No. 5 seed Sebastian Gobbi, and No. 6 seed Ramin Pejan, a junior, combined to lose only two games on the way to quickly defeating the Terps.
"They took care of business," said Lapidus.
In doubles competition, Root, paired with sophomore Jordan Wile, comprising the No. 4 team in the country. The duo easily defeated the Terrapins' Cathell and Collin Parker 8-4.
The No. 2 doubles team of Brause and Gobbi and the No. 3 doubles team of Jones and Pejan each cruised to wins in their matches, defeating the Terps 8-2.
Duke will see how the underclassmen can hold up against tougher competition, as the Blue Devils take on Miami on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Duke Tennis Stadium.
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