Earlier this year, South Carolina men's tennis coach Kent DeMar was inducted into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame. Yesterday at the Cone-Kenfield tennis center in Chapel Hill, he once again proved why.
In what many expected to be a Duke victory, DeMar led his No. 22 Gamecocks (9-1) to a 4-3 victory over Jay Lapidus and his 11th-ranked squad (4-3), adding another notch in the belt of this 400-plus match winner.
The Blue Devils, however, were masquerading as the third branch of Duke Hospital. The team remained plagued by injuries and illness yesterday, playing without the services of junior Dmitry Muzyka, ranked No. 82 in the nation. Even those that managed to play were not all healthy as several Duke netters battled illness in addition to their opponents.
"[South Carolina] is a good team, and they played a good match," Lapidus said. "We were severely hampered without [Muzyka], and that really hurt. We had to change the lineup, and everybody had to move up. It hurts us to move around in this lineup in a competitive situation."
For Duke, however, all was not a waste with the changing lineups. In the absence of Muzyka, the regular No. 3 seed, three Blue Devil freshmen were allowed to move up in the lineup, forming an all-freshman combination as the No. 4, 5 and 6 seeds. Their performance was the highlight of what was otherwise a largely dismal day for the Blue Devils.
"The freshmen did really well today," Lapidus said. "They were put in a tough situation having to move up, and they responded well."
Ramsey Smith led Duke's youthful trio, scoring a 6-2, 6-0 flattening of South Carolina's Tomas Wawryzniak at the No. 4 slot. Sixth-seed Marko Cerenko, playing in his first match after being sidelined by illness, also racked up a singles victory, 6-3, 6-4, over Remy Nagel. The lone freshman to fall for the Blue Devils was Andres Pedroso, the fifth seed, who dropped a tight three setter to Olof Akesson.
The Achilles' heel of the Blue Devils continued to be the doubles point. For the third consecutive match Duke placed itself in an early hole by dropping the match's first point, losing at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
"Doubles has really been hurting us," Lapidus said. "We've lost [the doubles point] in the last couple of matches, and it is hard to come back from that."
The Blue Devils' goal now is to remain upbeat heading into a tough stretch of dual match play.
"I hope this loss won't [get us down]," Lapidus said. "We will stay positive. We played shorthanded today, but there are a lot of matches still to be played."
The next three of those matches could prove to be three of the most important. Like many college students, the Blue Devils will be spending their spring break in the Florida sunshine. Duke, though, will have a few more things on its mind than most students, namely the Atlantic Coast Conference title which they will take their first stride toward against Florida State.
"[FSU] always plays well against us-they're feisty," said Lapidus, whose teams have claimed five ACC titles in his seven seasons. "They'll be pumped up to play us because we've traditionally been the team to beat in the ACC. It's a tough place to go, and it will probably be another tight match."
Duke begins its three-game spring break road swing against the No. 50 Miami Hurricanes, followed by No. 36 FSU and a top-10 matchup with yet another Southeastern Conference opponent, the No. 8 Florida Gators.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.