The Duke men's tennis team is off to a good start after Mike Yani, Yorke Allen, Peter Shults and Darin Goldstein participated in their first preseason tournament, the Southern Collegiate Invitational, in Athens, Georgia this past weekend.
The invitational, which included 48 other college teams, was based on individual rather than team play, as all tournaments are in the fall.
The best showing for Duke came from Shults and Goldstein, who both reached the quarterfinals of the Division II and III draws, respectively. Goldstein, a sophomore, lost in the third round 6-1, 6-1 to Romain Jurd from Florida State.
Shults, a freshman at Duke, was the sixth seed in his draw. The Little Rock, Arkansas native lost to Stephen Moros of Georgia Tech, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 in round three after winning his first two matches, 6-2, 6-2 in the first and 6-2, 6-1 in the second. Coach Jay Lapidus was impressed with the freshman's level of play.
"Peter is gonna be a really good player," Lapidus said. "I think he's one of the most developed players we've had come in as a freshman... [he's got] a fighting attitude, and that's really important."
Allen and Yani, both juniors, came across some tough play in the Division I flight. Allen lost in the second round to Christian Thall, the fifth seed from South Alabama who is a top 40 nationally ranked player.
Meanwhile, Yani lost in the first round to Leonardo Matta of Armstrong Atlantic State, 7-6, 6-1. Yani felt that as a team, "we didn't play our best," but hopes that in the upcoming tougher tournaments, they can step up their level of play.
Lapidus, however, was pleased with his team this weekend and felt that just one thing to work on for the future is some conditioning so that the players can stay strong through their matches.
"In the third sets we got a little tired," Lapidus said. "The season's early though. We'll get there."
This year's team has no seniors, but Lapidus is starting to see the leaders coming out and believes that "people will emerge," especially because the season is so long.
Team members Alex Bose and Jason Zimmermann were also expected to play in the invitational but withdrew due to illness. Phillip King, who earned ACC, ITA Region II and National Rookie of the Year honors last season, was absent this weekend due to his participation in a pro-level tournament last week.
The sophomore from Long Beach, California was debating a move to pro tennis, but chose to return to Duke after losing in the U.S. Open qualifiers this summer.
Lapidus is happy that King is staying in school and continuing with the Blue Devils.
"Phillip is a very bright kid with more than one dimension.... The college experience I think will be very good for him."
King and junior Joel Spicher will join their teammates at the All-American Tournament in Atlanta on Oct. 11. Six other players will be going out to Palm Springs, Calif. for next weekend's Adidas Classic.
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