Although favored to win the Southern Conference this season, the unranked Furman University Paladins were in over their heads against the Duke men's tennis team. The seventh-ranked Blue Devils improved their spring season record to 2-0 after a 6-1 sweep of Furman (2-3) at the Chapel Hill Tennis Club on Saturday.
The singles lineup, led by junior Dmitry Muzyka and senior Alberto Brause, won all six matches in straight sets. Sixty-fifth ranked Muzyka defeated Sam Schroerlucke, 7-6, 7-6. Duke coach Jay Lapidus knew that Muzyka's match would be a close one and was pleased with his performance.
"Dmitry played a strong match against one of the strongest players of the season," Lapidus said. "I felt like the match would be close, and [Dmitry] played tough."
Muzyka was excited about being given the opportunity to play No. 1 singles against Schroerlucke and thought that he played well. Overall, he was excited about the entire team's performance against Furman.
"Not to jinx us, but everything is going well," Muzyka said. "We just need to stay healthy, keep being intense, and go 100 percent all of the time."
No. 64 Brause defeated his opponent, Lee Nickel, 6-2, 6-1. Other singles winners included No. 77 Jordan Wile, sophomore Porter Jones and freshmen Ramsey Smith and Andres Pedroso.
Doubles was a different story, as the team of Jones and Ted Rueger managed to pick up Duke's only doubles win by defeating Will Murphy and Lex Altman, 8-2. Lapidus blamed himself for the team's performance, explaining that he underestimated the Paladins' doubles teams after one of their top players, senior Adam Abney, was injured.
"We were kind of flat and didn't show much emotion," Lapidus said. "We didn't realize the depth of their doubles game."
Despite the doubles setbacks, Lapidus seems confident about his players' success in both the doubles and singles lineup for their next matches against Kentucky and South Carolina.
"We played well against Virginia Tech [last week], and Kentucky will be a test of the doubles teams," Lapidus said. "We are a very strong, deep team and I think we will do well throughout the season."
The Blue Devils have a difficult few weeks ahead of them with the National Team Indoors on Feb. 19-22 and Kentucky on March 8th.
"While we have a tough week coming up, I think I am definitely ready for it and excited," Brause said.
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