The men's and women's basketball teams weren't the only Blue Devils to pull out close wins this weekend.
Dmitry Muzyka clinched the match point as the fourth-ranked men's tennis team (11-2) defeated No. 22 Virginia Commonwealth (15-2) Sunday afternoon in a 4-3 nail-biter.
The Blue Devils took the doubles point and split the first four singles matches. Either Muzyka or Doug Root needed to come away with a win to give Duke the victory, and both appeared to be on their way to playing three sets. After going down a break in the second, however, Muzyka rallied from the 2-3 deficit to win his match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
"[Muzyka's] doing a great job this year," coach Jay Lapidus said. "He's pulled out a lot of big matches for us. He's so solid; his record's great in singles and doubles. It's so good to see him back to the form that he was his freshman year. He's playing more mature now, but he's moving at that level again."
Porter Jones and Marko Cerenko won their singles matches in straight sets. At the No. 5 spot, Jones defeated Olle Lundberg, 6-0, 6-2, and Cerenko downed Johann Barras, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 6 singles.
According to Lapidus, those two easy wins may have put the Blue Devils off guard.
"Because we won so easily at five and six, and won the doubles fairly handily, I think the guys kind of were cruising a little bit," he said. "I think everybody knew we only had one more to go, and [Muzyka] was playing really well for us, so I think they were kind of maybe looking around a little bit and saying, 'We're gonna win,' and I felt that a little bit."
Duke swept the doubles with three 8-4 wins. Jordan Wile and Muzyka rolled over David Andersson and Frank Moser at No. 1 doubles. The Nos. 2 and 3 teams took similar routes to victory. Pedro Escudero and Root defeated Jose Sanchez and Manuel Kropfreiter, and Ramsey Smith and Andres Pedroso took out Lundberg and Barras, both recovering from 2-3 deficits to eventually win their matches.
In recent matches, Root and Escudero had played in the top slot, and Wile and Muzyka at No. 2. But in a team meeting after their loss to TCU, the Blue Devils decided to switch their lineup around in order to keep opponents off guard.
"The guys suggested we start moving around the lineup a little bit because we were set in a certain lineup... and other teams were matching up to us," Lapidus said. "There are certain players that don't match up as well to others, and if people know exactly what lineup we're playing, they can take advantage of that. The guys were very unselfish. This is the first time any team of mine's ever done that."
Yesterday afternoon, it may not have all been easy, but it worked.
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