The weekend was disappointing for the men's tennis team, but the Blue Devils remain confident for important National Team Indoors next week. The No. 9 Blue Devils fell to 0-3 this weekend with losses to No. 14 Texas A&M (4-3) and No. 20 Texas (4-1) Friday and Saturday, respectively.
"We knew it was going to be a tough match because [Texas] had just beat Carolina the day before," Goldstein said. "I think we were kind of shell-shocked, just coming off losses to Notre Dame and A&M."
Friday against Texas A&M, the Duke freshmen played well as Jason Zimmerman defeated Jarin Skube at No. 3 singles in a decisive and lengthy match, 6-4, 7-5. Peter Shults, playing at No. 5, handily won over Derrick Bauer, 6-3, 6-3. The freshman duo also won in doubles competition, defeating Khaled El Dorry and Ante Matijevic 8-5 at No. 3. A sophomore in his first year on the team, Goldstein put up impressive numbers against El Dorry, but ended up losing 7-6, 6-0 in his first collegiate match.
"Peter and Jason both played really well. Jason played well at No. 3 and pulled out a big win," Goldstein said. "But it was my first match and I was pretty nervous and I had a tough first match."
A&M picked up the doubles point when Nos. 1 and 2 doubles fell to the Aggies. Duke's No. 1 doubles team of Philip King and Michael Yani fell to Lester Cook and Ryan Newport 8-6, while Duke juniors Alex Bose and Yorke Allen took a loss to Bauer & Skube, 8-3.
King was the only other Duke player to win at singles in the match against A&M. He played at No. 1 and beat Newport 6-2, 6-4. Yani, at No. 2, fell to Cook, whom he face later in doubles, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Duke's luck was still not there Saturday versus Texas as the Longhorns swept all three doubles and almost the singles as well. Shults was the only Duke player to take a win in singles, as he defeated Roger Gubser 6-2, 6-3. Yani fell to Jean Simon, who is ranked sixth nationally, 6-2, 6-4. Bose at No. 2 lost to Rodrigo Echagaray, 7-5, 7-5. Goldstein was defeated by Alastair Jenkin at the sixth spot, 6-4, 6-0.
Yani played at No. 1 singles, filling in for King, who did not play in singles competition because of his continuing wrist tendinitis. He did, however, play at No. 1 doubles with Yani. The duo almost pulled out a win for the Blue Devils, but fell to Echagaray and Zarhi in a decisive match, 9-7.
"The doubles were all really close and the singles got off to a good start," Goldstein said. "I thought [Yani and King] were going to win [doubles], they were doing really well, but they didn't pull it out in the end. I guess losing those two close doubles matches kind of. "
The Blue Devils head to Kentucky for the National Team Indoors Feb. 7-10.
"We can't get bottomed out early, basically," Goldstein said. "I think we know what to expect, we've played top-20 teams, so we kind of know what the competition will be like all year. We know we can play with anybody in the country."
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