So close, yet so far away.
The sixth-ranked men's tennis team got their hearts broken by top-ranked Illinois, dropping a closely contested 6-1 loss in front of a capacity crowd on Valentine's Day.
The loss perpetuates a 40-game Illinois (8-0) win streak dating back to last year. Both of Duke's (5-2) losses have come against the Illini.
"We knew their level, and they knew ours," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "They're national champions, and they just showed why."
The Blue Devils fought admirably against the defending national champions despite the lopsided score. Duke got an early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. The nation's second-best doubles team in sophomore Ludovic Walter and junior Jason Zimmerman defeated the Illini's top combination, and freshman Peter Rodrigues and sophomore Stephen Amritraj proved too much for Illinois' Pramod Dabir and Ryler DeHeart.
"We're very, very good in doubles." Lapidus said. "I think we're the best doubles team in the country."
Unfortunately for Duke, however, the doubles loss galvanized the Illini, who responded by winning all of the singles matches.
Amritraj and Zimmerman fell first in straight sets to Ed Jones and Michael Calkins, respectively. Sophomore Jonathan Stokke then lost to Chris Martin in three sets, and freshman Peter Rodrigues lost a third set tiebreaker to Ryler DeHeart shortly afterward to decide the match.
However, the game never seemed out of reach for a resilient Blue Devils team that, despite the experience of the Illini, kept the match remarkably close. The game never appeared out of reach until DeHeart's match-clinching win.
"The whole match was really close," said senior Phillip King, who was nursing a sore ankle. "There was no momentum switch at all, it was just a nailbiter every match."
Despite the loss, Lapidus remained upbeat about the Blue Devils' season and their national championship hopes.
"I think we can't hang our heads," Lapidus said. "I think we're legitimately the second-best team or third [in the nation], we're right up there this year."
Equally confident, the team hopes to get another shot at the defending national champions later in the season.
"I just feel like we have the potential to beat them." Rodrigues said. "They're a very good team; they've proven it twice by beating us. But as [Lapidus] said, if we play outside, and everyone plays at the top of their game, we have a really good chance of beating them. Hopefully, that will happen."
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