No one expected the men's tennis team's senior class to be able to run through the Atlantic Coast Conference for four straight years without losing a match, but barring a miracle by the Tar Heels today, that is exactly what is going to happen.
As a matter of fact, the Blue Devils hit 40 straight ACC victories with their 5-2 victory over the University of Virginia Saturday.
"Obviously its a great feat for the guys who have been here," coach Jay Lapidus said. "To not have the seniors go through with a loss-we have UNC [today]-would be great."
The match began roughly for the Blue Devils who had problems taking the doubles point. Although the tandem of Alex Bose and Andres Pedroso had no problems dispatching Wahoos Jonathan Chou and Brian Hunter at No. 3 doubles 8-3, the first two-thirds of doubles was much more interesting.
In a hard fought contest between the Blue Devils Marko Cerenko and Michael Yani and the Cavaliers Tommy Crocker and Michael Duquette, Virginia came out on top with a 9-8 tiebreak victory over the Blue Devils, leveling the doubles score at 1-1.
The top doubles match between the No. 29 duo of Phillip King and Ramsey Smith and the No. 2-ranked Virginia pair of Brian Vahaly and Huntley Montgomery resulted in a 9-8 Blue Devil victory, effectively sealing the doubles point for Duke. The match was close the entire time, and even the tiebreak went to sudden death, resulting in a 10-8 win.
"It was an emotional boost," Lapidus said. "We're good at the top and deep at the bottom. We knew that UVa. had some strong players at the top, but we figured we could at least get them at the bottom, so we felt comfortable going into singles play."
Although the team was comfortable, King and Smith could not duplicate their doubles magic on the singles side. Both had revenge extracted on them by Virginia and fell in straight sets. King lost to Vahaly 7-6 (2), 6-1, while Smith was downed by Montgomery 6-4, 6-4.
"We were winning other matches and they had just fought for an emotional comeback win," Lapidus said of his top pair. "It was a hot day and they could look down the line and tell the team match was over, so after a tough first set it was fruitless."
In other singles, Cerenko extended his ACC winning streak by topping Croker 6-1, 6-1. With that victory, he moves to 30-0 for his career in ACC play.
"Marko has really been consistent for us the last four years-he's won 30 in a row without having a down day," Lapidus said.
Meanwhile Pedroso and Bose both won easily to seal the match for Duke. Yorke Allen also won the sixth singles match to take it to 5-2.
The Duke will face North Carolina at 3 p.m. today in their final ACC match of the year. A victory would give the seniors a perfect ACC record for their career.
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