In his 15 years as Duke’s head coach, Jay Lapidus has learned a few things about a Duke-UNC men’s tennis matchup.
“You’re always expecting them to peak or play very well against us,” Lapidus said of the Tar Heels. “They always seem to go 4-3 with us.”
Not this time.
The fifth-ranked Blue Devils steamrolled the No. 44 Tar Heels, 7-0, Wednesday afternoon in Chapel Hill. The Blue Devils swept the Tar Heels in three doubles matches and won all six singles contests, dropping just one set all day.
Duke (17-3, 7-1 in the ACC) used its performance in doubles play to spark the dominating victory.
In No. 1 doubles play, Duke’s 43rd-ranked team of Ludovic Walter and Jason Zimmermann upset UNC’s 41st-ranked duo of Geoff Boyd and Brad Pomeroy in a match that required a tiebreaker.
The No. 2 tandem of Charles Brezac and Jonathan Stokke cruised to victory over their Tar Heel opponents, as did the No. 3 pairing of Stephen Amritraj and Peter Shults.
“The doubles kind of set the tone,” Lapidus said. “We’re very solid through our whole lineup. We don’t have any real holes in our lineup, so after we win the doubles point, it’s hard to feel like teams can really beat us.”
In singles play, Walter—ranked No. 3 in the nation— won in straight sets over the Tar Heels’ (14-8, 4-5) first singles player, Raian Luchici. The victory was his 22nd on the season, which leads the Blue Devils.
Shults, playing in the No. 6 singles spot, continued his impressive run. His match was the first to finish as he dominated his UNC opponent, losing only one game in the process. The senior has not lost a set in seven conference matchups this season and has not dropped more than four games in any of his last four matches.
“I think everything’s been clicking. I’ve started to play really well the last few matches,” Shults said. “For anybody, the more you win, the more confidence you get.”
Stokke, Peter Rodrigues and Brezac earned straight set victories over their UNC opposition at the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 singles spots, respectively.
Boyd was able to give Amritraj more of a hard time at the No. 3 singles spot, but the Blue Devil junior was able to pull out a three-set victory.
Duke will host Wake Forest Saturday and Virginia Tech Sunday in its final matches before the ACC Tournament March 21 to 24 in Cary, N.C.
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