CHAPEL HILL - Sophomore Peter Shults is becoming accustomed to deja vu when squaring off against North Carolina. In a situation nearly identical to 2002, when Shults overcame a 5-3 deficit in the third set only to win 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, Shults played past a sluggish start to pull out another three-set nailbiter in the sixth singles slot, giving the men's tennis team a 4-3 victory over the Tar Heels.
The only difference this time around was that Shults punctuated the victory with a commanding 6-1 score in the third set, after splitting the opening sets 3-6, 6-4.
And if recording the deciding win over North Carolina for two consecutive seasons wasn't enough for Shults to get excited about, his victory continued a remarkable seven-year, 57-game winning streak in ACC regular season play for No. 9 Duke (16-5, 8-0 in the ACC). The win also gave Duke a comfortable 21.5 to 15.5 advantage in the Carlyle Cup standings, an all-sports competition between the two schools. Duke won the inagural cup in 2001, with UNC winning last year.
After the match, Shults was so physically and mentally drained, he could scarcely find the words to express his elation.
"I can't really think right now," Shults said. "It was really tight."
Luckily for Shults, he remained loose throughout the match, even when a throng of UNC fans came over
And because the match was played in the Tar Heels' indoor facility, the noise of the light-blue faithful was louder and more disruptive than normal. As such, Shults was grateful to King for having battled with Monroe for so long.
"It was better that Phillip kept his match going longer, so that everybody wasn't there for a longer period of time," said Shults, who was leading 5-1 when the fans gathered around his court. "But yeah, at the end I was a little nervous - I think my opponent might have been a little more nervous."
To top it all of for Shults, the win reaffirmed his ability to win against better competition, as he has struggled this season against opponents and with a nagging shoulder injury.
"He did a good job because Peter's struggled a little bit in singles this year," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "He's had a bad shoulder and his record's not that good, so for him to come up with a big win like that is great for his confidence, so I'm really proud of him."
Other important wins for Duke came from sophomore Jason Zimmerman and freshman Ludovic Walter at the No. 4 and No. 3 slots, respectively. Zimmerman cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win while Walter extended his personal winning streak nine games with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
"I played really well," Walter said. "I had like 80 percent of my first serves in the whole match, so there was nothing [my opponent] could do. I just grinded, I didn't miss and came in on the right shots every single time."
Regardless, the Blue Devils were unable to dispatch the top two Tar Heels. King's loss came in the form of a hard-fought, well-played match, but he eventually succumbed to the athletic junior.
Meanwhile, Duke's No. 2 singles player Michael Yani was unable to outgun UNC's Trystan Meniane, who is ranked No. 31 in the nation. Likewise, Jonathan Stokke could not dictate play in a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Andy Metzler.
Fortunately for the Blue Devils, their doubles play was dominating as Duke swept the Tar Heels. Particularly impressive was the play of the nation's No. 4-ranked tandem of King and Yani, which won 8-4 against UNC's top doubles team.
On paper, Duke would have walked away with a victory over UNC, the nation's 45th-ranked team.
The Tar Heels have lost an uncharacteristic five games and won just a single game in conference play en route to a misleading 8-10 ledger. But as Lapidus quickly pointed out, Duke-Carolina is always a battle.
"UNC's a very good team, I don't know how they could possibly be 1-6 in the conference - they're very good."
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