The men's tennis team will kick off its spring season tomorrow when it travels to Winston-Salem to compete in the ACC Indoors, its first regular-season individual tournament of the year.
Having to deal with the devastating loss of a superb senior class, the Blue Devils must face several new challenges this season. The players, however, feel completely ready for their first tourney and remain optimistic about the entire season.
"I think we're going to surprise some people; I think we're going to be pretty darn good this year," coach Jay Lapidus said. "If we stay healthy, we're going to be a good team."
Entering the tournament this weekend, the No. 10 Blue Devils are among the favorites to win the conference title this spring. But because the ACC Indoors is an individual competition, it will be up to each player to achieve their team goal.
"We've been working really hard, and so now it's time to put the hard work into reality, and tournaments usually help people to play a lot sharper," Lapidus said. "Our first team match isn't until Notre Dame on the 29th, so it's our last individual tournament of the year. It's a time to get match tough and getting ready for team play, and it's good match preparation."
Last year, Duke had a 15-game winning streak before losing to Georgia in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. But that Duke team was quite different from this year's unit.
The Blue Devils can no longer rely on Andres Pedroso's powerful serve, Marko Cerenko's aggressiveness or Ramsey Smith's tenacity--all echoes of last year's seniors who graduated. This year will be all about Duke's juniors--Michael Yani, Joel Spicher, Alex Bose, Yorke Allen--and one dazzling sophomore, Phillip King.
"These guys have never really had the chance to prove themselves in the past," Lapidus said. "You know Mike Yani and Yorke Allen have never really had the opportunities just because we've always [had a lot of players on the roster]."
In the fall, individual players competed in the ITA Men's All-American Championships, the Adidas Invitational and the Southern Collegiate Championships. That was when Yani, King and Allen made their way out of the spotlight of the previous year's seniors and defined themselves.
But this tournament will also give fans a chance to see the new freshmen in action--Jason Zimmerman, Peter Shults and Darin Goldstein. Despite being in their first year of college, Shults and Goldstein have collegiate-level experience from earlier this year when they competed in the ITA All-American Championships.
The Blue Devils' first team match is Jan. 29. They face Notre Dame here at Duke.
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