Few teams can begin the season 1-5 while having confidence and maintaining their status as an elite, top-10 program. However, in the young spring season, the men's tennis team has done just that.
After losing to three top teams to start 0-3, the Blue Devils traveled to Louisville, Ky,. for the USTA/ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships. In this team tournament of men's tennis heavyweights, No. 9 Duke won its first round match 4-1 against No. 4 Tennessee, before dropping its quarterfinal contest 6-1 to No. 2 Stanford. The Blue Devils then lost in the consolation to 4-1 to third-ranked UCLA.
"We got the best out of [the weekend]," junior Michael Yani said. "We got a crack at three of the top-five teams. It showed us where we stand and that we can hang with them."
Despite the final scores, the Blue Devils hung with UCLA and Stanford fairly well. As Yani said, only a few points separated Duke from the victors.
Duke began its consolation match versus the Bruins on the wrong foot, dropping two doubles matches 8-5 and 8-3, giving UCLA a 1-0 lead.
In singles play, freshman Jason Zimmerman was able to pick up a point at the No. 4 slot by beating Erfan Djahangiri 6-2, 7-5; however, Yani, Shults and Joel Spicher, who was recovering from illness, all lost, handing UCLA the victory.
The quarterfinal match with Stanford also proved to be an important test between the young Blue Devils and the perennial No. 1 team in the country. Although the Cardinal won every flight except the fifth--where Shults beat Phil Sheng 6-3, 6-1--most of the matches were nail-biter quality, with two double contests ending in 8-6 and 9-7 decisions in favor the Cardinal.
"Even though we lost to Stanford and UCLA, we know we could have and possibly should have beaten both," Shults said. "Next time we'll now exactly what it takes to win."
The Blue Devils' win over Tennessee was just the catalyst the young team needed going into the quarterfinals. In their first victory of the spring season, Duke was able to win the doubles points and get wins out of Zimmerman, Yorke Allen and Philip King, who was playing with an injured wrist.
"[The results of this tournament] bode well for the future," coach Jay Lapidus said. "If we get a couple months of experience and stay healthy, we could do some damage in May. I think we're a top-10 team and when you're in that position things can happen."
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