The men's tennis team received a solid performance from its fifth-ranked doubles team of junior Doug Root and senior Jordan Wile, but it was not enough to prevent Duke from being eliminated early at the T. Rowes Price National Clay Court Championships in Baltimore this past weekend.
Root and Wile defeated Justin Mauck and Keith Pollack of SMU, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-4, in the first round before being knocked out of the tournament in a three-set match, 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 by the doubles team of Cary Franklin and Oliver Freelobe of Illinois. Coach Jay Lapidus was not too disappointed with the performance.
"[They] ran into a doubles team that was playing really well," he said. "It was not a disgrace to lose to them."
The Blue Devils did not fare much better in the singles draw. Duke's top player, sixth-seeded Doug Root, defeated Adam Marchetti of Virginia Tech, 6-2, 6-3, but lost in the next round to Johan Jooste of Baylor, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). The match was closely contested with only one service game broken in the entire match.
"I felt I played pretty well, but I had that one sloppy service game [in the first set]," said Root, ranked 13th in the preseason national rankings by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
The rest of Duke's entrants were eliminated in the first qualifying round of the tournament. Wile lost to Tom Hand of LSU, 6-4, 6-4, while 96th-ranked Ramsey Smith and 98th-ranked Dmitry Muzyka lost in the first round of the qualifying rounds in tough 3-set matches. Smith and Muzyka also lost in the qualifying rounds of doubles, falling to Julian Raynal and Mike Thall of South Alabama in straight sets.
Duke was not pleased with its overall performance at the tournament, because of its success last year when Root and Wile reached the semifinals. The Blue Devils, however, were happy to be done with playing on clay, which is not the normal surface of collegiate tennis.
"Clay doesn't really suit my game because it weakens my aggressive style of play," Root said. "I'm just looking forward to playing on hard courts again."
"Doug is much more suited to the hard courts," Lapidus added. "This tournament will give the team some experience with tough opponents which will help in ACC play."
The Blue Devils will return to the hardcourts next when they will be in action in the Southern Collegiate Tournament in Athens, Ga.
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