The men's tennis team got its first taste of spring action last Friday at the 2002 ACC Indoor Tennis Championships held in Winston-Salem. The tournament was the team's first regular season event. Two Duke juniors, Yorke Allen and Michael Yani, also competed in the 2002 National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Las Vegas, Nev.
The ACC tournament was expected to be an important forum for emerging freshmen Peter Shults and Jason Zimmermann to gain critical experience in college-level competition.
Zimmermann advanced to the quarterfinals before withdrawing with tendinitis in his knee, while Shults lost in a tight match to the tournament's No. 1 seed. As a doubles pair, the two lost in the semifinals to eventual champions Rodrigo Laub and Xavier Luscan of Florida State.
"[The] freshmen showed that they have a great future at Duke," coach Jay Lapidus said. "[Jason] had a real strong tournament.... [He] fought through two hard matches and showed a lot of heart."
While struggling with the flu, junior Alex Bose lost his first round match and freshman Darin Goldstein, who also had the flu, declined to play in the tournament.
While the freshmen proved their mettle in the ACC Indoors, Yani advanced to the semifinals of the 2002 National Collegiate Tennis Classic, before losing to Ryan Haviland of Stanford in the quarterfinals. Teammate Yorke Allen was ousted by Stanford's Scott Lipsky, who entered the tournament ranked No. 31. Allen was then defeated by Romain Tug of UNLV in the consolation bracket.
For the near future, the team looks forward to its first home match against Notre Dame Jan. 29.
"It will be a tough challenge for us," Lapidus said. "I think we will surprise some people."
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