With the No. 1 seed in this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and a perfect record in conference play this season, the men's tennis team wouldn't seem to have too many concerns about capturing the tournament title.
Of course, the Blue Devils didn't seem to have many worries last year, when they entered the tournament in the exact same situation.
The 1996 tournament failed to yield a championship for the Blue Devils when Clemson upset them, 4-3, in the finals.
When Alberto Brause's ball lodged into the net to end the final point last year against Clemson's Bruce Li, Duke lost the battle for its seventh overall championship and sixth in the 1990s.
The Blue Devils will resume that quest at 3 p.m. Friday in Atlanta, when they open competition against eighth-seeded N.C. State, which beat Maryland 7-0 in Thursday's play-in match.
Ironically, the eighth-seeded Wolfpack is one of the few conference teams that has come close to beating the Blue Devils this year. Although Duke led early in the match when the two teams met on April 7, N.C. State stormed back to tie the match at 3-all. However, Brause would have the final say in this one, overcoming being shut-out in the second set and carrying Duke to the winner's circle with a three-set win, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2.
In Duke's defense, coach Jay Lapidus rested several injured players in that match, including Dmitry Muzyka and Andres Pedroso.
In last year's tournament, the Blue Devils and the Wolfpack also squared off in the quarterfinals, and Duke rolled to an easy 4-1 victory.
Provided that the Blue Devils defeat the Wolfpack, they will face the winner of the quarterfinal match pitting No. 5 Florida State against No. 4 Georgia Tech.
In terms of national rankings, Duke is currently the top ACC team at No. 15. Doug Root ranks No. 18 nationally in singles and teams up with Jordan Wile to form the 11th-ranked doubles team.
Duke's stellar freshman class, however, could provide Duke with the infusion of youth and talent it lacked last year. Freshman Ramsey Smith boasts the most wins on the squad with a 31-6 record and a 7-1 mark in ACC play.
Yesterday, another Duke freshman-Marko Cerenko-captured an ACC Flight Champion award given by conference officials. The award goes to the top performers at each singles and doubles position. Cerenko received the award by virtue of his perfect 6-0 conference record at No. 6 singles.
Cerenko's honor continues an annual Duke tradition of providing the conference with some of its premier freshman talents-Root and Muzyka have earned the last two ACC Rookie of the Year awards.
Brause also won a Flight Championship award-his second-for his undefeated conference record at No. 2 singles. Root was the runner-up for the award at No. 1 singles.
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