RALEIGH - In recent days, the men's tennis team has more resembled a MASH unit than a tennis team. But yesterday, the Duke tennis ambulance rolled into Raleigh, beat up and all, and took out some frustration on the Wolfpack.
Despite playing without the injured Porter Jones, Pedro Escudero and Joel Spicher, the Blue Devils (14-5, 5-0 in the ACC) cruised to an easy 5-2 win against N.C. State (9-12, 0-4) yesterday afternoon at the Wolfpack Tennis Complex. The win extends Duke's conference winning streak to 22 matches.
"We've been a little dinged up with a couple of injuries," coach Jay Lapidus said. "To come out in the conference and win a solid match like that was good for us confidence-wise."
After taking the doubles point and winning two of the first three completed singles matches, Duke needed just one win in the three remaining matches on the court to clinch the win. With Doug Root struggling mightily in his match against the Wolfpack's Eric Jackson at No. 1 singles and Michael Yani involved in a tight and somewhat heated match at No. 6 singles, however, Duke's hopes seemingly rested on the shoulders of Andres Pedroso.
But Pedroso ended the suspense quickly. His forehand volley at the net on match point completed a 6-1, 6-3 win against State's Keith Salmon and clinched the victory for the Blue Devils.
Duke had stormed out of the gates in doubles play, sweeping all three matches and dropping only seven games in total. The Blue Devils' top tandem of Ramsey Smith and Root whitewashed Jackson and Salmon 8-0 to get the Blue Devils rolling.
"It's rare to get a shutout in men's doubles," Lapidus said. "They returned really well. It's good to see them play that well."
With a point in hand, Smith wasted little time getting Duke off to a good start in singles action, ripping off service winners on the first three points of his match against Devang Desai. Smith then broke Desai at 3-2 in the first set and in the opening game of the second set, and clinched his win when Desai double-faulted on match point.
State's Shaun Thomas got the Wolfpack on the board with his win at No. 5 singles against Duke freshman Yorke Allen. But Marko Cerenko quickly answered with a dominant 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles, blasting a forehand winner for match point. With his win, Cerenko improves his career singles record in ACC play to a perfect 20-0.
"Marko's very reliable-he's never lost an ACC match," Lapidus said. "Get him in the conference, he's been steamrolling. You have to feel a lot of confidence when a guy's 20-0 and he walks out on the court."
Shortly after Pedroso clinched the win, Johnson finished off a frustrating afternoon for Root with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles. Root never appeared comfortable in the match, often berating himself and mocking his own play.
"It's tough because Doug's been playing a lot of good players," Lapidus said. "It's hard when you keep playing good competition, and Doug's opponent was a good player. The conditions were tough-he felt the team was going to win, so it was a little bit harder to motivate himself to win that match."
The final and perhaps most controversial match was the showdown between Jeff Smith and Yani at No. 5 singles. With Yani serving for first set at 5-4 and the game at deuce, Smith called a Yani forehand long, much to Yani's dismay. The umpire held up Smith's call, but Yani rallied to take the next three points and the set.
With Yani leading 2-1 in the second set, he slammed a winner on break point, but Smith called the ball out. The umpire overturned the call, however, and gave Yani the game. Riding the momentum of the call, Yani cruised the rest of the way to the win.
Note: Jones and Spicher are expected to return for Duke's next match at Clemson on Saturday.
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