The men's tennis team vies for its second straight conference championship this weekend at the ACC tournament in Raleigh. The Blue Devils (18-6, 6-2 in the ACC) are gearing up for their matchup today against sixth-seeded Wake Forest, a team Duke defeated 6-1 on March 24.
"Wake is a really dangerous team with a lot of good players," assistant coach Jon Needer said. "The score was not indicative of how hard fought a match that was."
The Demon Deacons (11-9, 3-5) finished their regular season campaign with a 4-3 victory over N.C. State, and Duke is coming off a road loss to second-seed Virginia. Needer sees the loss as a learning opportunity as the team prepares for the post season.
"It's a lot of extra motivation to tighten up and play well as we move forward," he said.
In recent years, Duke has dominated the ACC, winning conference titles in 10 of the last 13 seasons. Last year, the Blue Devils dispatched Maryland (4-0), Wake Forest (4-0) and Clemson (4-1) to take the title.
This year's tournament, however, may prove more challenging. Should the Blue Devils come away victorious Friday evening, they move into the semifinals and meet either Virginia or Florida State, the only two teams that have beaten them this season in the conference.
The Cavaliers denied the Blue Devils a share of the regular season title Sunday, and the Seminoles broke Duke's 58-match ACC regular season winning streak March 21.
"We definitely have a lot of motivation," said senior Philip King, who was named Thursday to the All-ACC team for the fourth time in his career. "We hadn't lost in around eight years, and then we lost twice."
On the other side of the bracket, Georgia Tech faces Clemson in the four-five matchup, and the winner of the N.C. State-Maryland match takes on top-seeded North Carolina.
Duke has defeated each of these teams this season, including the Tar Heels 5-2 on April 7.
Despite being the third seed, the Blue Devils still maintain the highest national ranking among all of the ACC teams. In the most recent ITA rankings, Duke, ranked sixth, dropped one spot from last week, and No. 10 Virginia and No. 13 North Carolina round out the ACC's representation in the top 15. King and Ludovic Walter, Duke's strong one-two punch, are the league's top-ranked singles players.
King also sees his final ACC Tournament as an opportunity to finish off a strong career in a positive fashion and feels that his teammates are prepared for the competition.
"I think we're ready as a team," King said. "Everybody is focused to go out and play well this weekend."
Needer looks forward to the weekend as well, and he knows the Blue Devils are prepared.
"We are ready to go out and prove that we belong at the top," he said.
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