Whoever said, "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing," didn't consider the caliber of the men's tennis teams that Duke faced at its tournament this weekend.
Some of the Blue Devils' quarterfinal losses in the Southern Collegiate Championships in Athens, Ga., were far from a disappointment for the players considering that the losses were to top-ranked individuals, many of whom were the eventual champions of the various divisions.
"This was a really strong tournament of some of the best players in the SEC and ACC," said coach Jay Lapidus. "Fourteen of the top 100 players, ranking-wise, were in this tournament."
Sophomore Ramsey Smith lost 6-1, 6-1 to Florida's Jeff Morrison in the quarterfinals of Division I competition. Morrison went on to win the Division I tournament. More important than this loss, however, was Smith's upset of 12th-ranked Adam Marchetti of Virginia Tech, 6-2, 7-5.
"Ramsey played his best match against [Marchetti]," said Lapidus. "It definitely qualifies as a breakthrough win in terms of national caliber."
Smith was not the only Duke player to face a tough draw in this tournament. Junior Porter Jones also advanced to the quarterfinals against Division II finalist Ajay Ramaswami of Charleston Southern. Although Jones placed higher in the Southern Collegiates last year, he was not disappointed with his performance after learning that Ramaswami advanced to the finals.
While Jones said he played strongly in singles, he thought his doubles performance with teammate Ted Rueger was his highlight of the tournament. The duo of Jones and Reuger, seeded fourth in the tournament, had a huge 9-7 win over William & Mary's top team.
"Ted and I felt good," Jones said. "We played last year together and had a good record. It was our first time playing together this year."
This was an important win not only because it boosted Jones' confidence after his singles loss, but also because the William & Mary pair was a National Clay Court quarterfinalist the weekend before, putting it in the top 10 in the country when the next ranking comes out.
"We didn't know they were ranked that high," Jones said. "It was probably good that [Lapidus] didn't tell us because then we could've overestimated our opponents too much and gone for shots we normally wouldn't have gone for."
The other doubles team of Smith and Marko Cerenko had a good performance before losing in the third round to Georgia State's top team.
Cerenko and Reuger also participated in singles play, as Cerenko defeated Olle Nystrom of Middle Tennessee State in the opening round in straight sets while Reuger had a tough loss to Tennessee Tech's Adnan Hadzialic, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.
It is difficult to decide whether Duke's singles or doubles matches were more successful this past weekend. One thing is for sure though-the quote, "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" isn't true when considering the valuable experience that the Blue Devils gained in this tournament.
"All our guys made really good progress," Lapidus said. "They're definitely playing better [now] then they were playing last year."
Duke will look for the progress to continue when it travels to the All-Americans on Oct. 15.
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