Duke struggled to a tough 4-3 victory yesterday afternoon over No. 32 Wake Forest. The match began outside at Ambler Stadium but was moved inside to the Sheffield Indoor Center midway through the slate of singles matches due to rain. After Duke had built a two to one lead, four matches remained on the court and each headed into a third set.
Playing in the No. 4 flight, Jonathan Stokke won the decisive match when he defeated Trent Brendon 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. The second set was on serve at 5-4 until Brendon broke when a Stokke overhead sailed long.
In the final set, Stokke made more of an effort to come to the net and put pressure on Brendon.
"One of the coaches told me to approach up the line," Stokke said. "I was just trying to put pressure on him."
Stokke came out firing in the third set, breaking in the second game of the set. However, Brendon would fight back to break the Blue Devil freshman in the sixth game of the set. At 4-4, Stokke would break again and go on to serve for the match and the team victory.
"I haven't played well so it was good to finally step up and win a match for the team," he said.
Ludovic Walter also went down to the wire in a critical match against David Bere. Walter was playing in the No. 2 flight because of an illness to Michael Yani. Walter lost the first set 6-3 which was played primarily outside.
"I didn't lose my serve inside," Walter said. "After we came inside I was much more aggressive. I was confident because I didn't lose my serve at all inside and I had so many break points. I knew I was going to win."
Walter broke in the final game of the second set to even the score. He took control of the match when he broke Bere at 2-1. The freshman never looked back and won a key match for the Blue Devils when Bere's groundstroke sailed long on match point.
On the other hand, Peter Schults came up short for Duke, losing in a tiebreak after the overall match had already been decided. Wake Forest's Mike Murray took the first set in a tiebreak after Schults failed to connect on set point.
Yorke Allen was also engaged in a tight third set battle until he pulled his shoulder when serving at 4-4. He attempted to serve underhand with mild success but ultimately lost. He will be evaluated tomorrow and is questionable for this weekend's matches at Georgia Tech and Clemson.
Duke had more success in doubles as it secured a crucial point. Despite his sickness, Yani and his partner Phillip King defeated Murray and Brendon.
"We are playing well in doubles right now," head coach Jay Lapidus said.
Schults and Stokke were also victorious by a score of 8-5. Taking advantage of the wind outdoor, Stokke used the lob to win points when the Wake team was at net. He also came up with a number of terrific passing shots.
"I thought we all fought pretty well," Stokke said. "I thought we battled really well."
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