Coming off an emotional win against North Carolina Tuesday, the wrestling team had the tough task of a doubleheader against Maryland (2-7, 0-3 in the ACC) and non-conference foe Rutgers (7-4) Saturday.
The Blue Devils (6-5, 2-0) topped Maryland 25-9 to remain perfect in the league, but fell to Rutgers 28-6.
Duke faced the Terrapins in the day's opening contest. The Blue Devils set the tone early and showed determination in winning the close matches. Of Duke's eight individual match victories, six were by five points or less.
"I knew it was going to come down to some key matches," head coach Clar Anderson said. "We won all the close ones, which was nice to insure the win."
At 125 pounds, freshman Christian Smith defeated Maryland's Matt Pandull0 5-4. At 133, Blue Devil Adam Benitez continued his recent hot streak, winning his fourth straight match 5-2 over Mike Lupa. The two wins gave Duke an early 6-0 advantage.
Maryland's Jason Gribschaw defeated Daniel Schvartsman in the second overtime at 141, pulling Maryland to within three, but the Blue Devils would win the next six matches to take a commanding 25-3 lead with just one bout remaining.
"We thought we could handle Maryland pretty well," Benitez said. "We obviously had to lift up for the challenge but we did that very well."
Duke's match against Rutgers showed the other side of the coin. This time the Blue Devils lost close matches at the beginning, falling too far behind to be able to catch up at the end. Benitez and senior captain Michael Mitchell were the only Blue Devils to win, and Rutgers ran away with a 28-6 victory.
"This was a pretty unique situation for us because we had to wrestle Maryland first, which was a big match for us, and then wait while Maryland and Rutgers wrestled before we went against Rutgers," Anderson said. "There seemed to be less emotion and emphasis for that second match."
Only Virginia and N.C. State stand in the way of a perfect ACC season for the Blue Devils. Duke faces Virginia, its toughest remaining conference opponent, next Saturday.
"It's going to be closer this year than ever," Anderson said. "Virginia is very strong at a few weights. If we can win the close matches and not give up the extra bonus points, I think we can beat them."
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