Almost half of Duke's starters realized they could be playing the last match of their careers as Blue Devils against Boise State in the second round of the NCAA Championships Sunday.
The fourth-seeded Blue Devils lost in doubles and got down early in singles. But facing the potential career-ending loss for Duke's three seniors, the Blue Devils came alive in crucial tiebreakers to steal the match from the 26th-ranked Broncos (21-7), 4-2. With the win, Duke (22-6) advances to the round of 16, where it will play No. 13 Stanford Saturday at 3 p.m. in Palo Alto, Calif.
"Immediately after the doubles match, I looked around at the guys, and they looked shellshocked," assistant coach Ramsey Smith said. "No. 1 and 2 didn't play really well and guys were hanging their heads a little bit."
A timely rain delay followed doubles competition, allowing the Blue Devils to re-group before entering the singles matches indoors, Smith said.
Early on in singles, Duke's situation looked pretty bleak too. Freshman Kiril Dimitrov and senior Stephen Amritraj-who played the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively-both fell short in first-set tiebreakers, 7-6 (7-4).
The Blue Devils looked to be on the verge of going down 3-0, when junior Joey Atas finished a tough second-set tiebreaker and won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). His point evened the match at 1-1.
"Whenever you lose the doubles point, it's really important to get the first singles point to tie the match," Smith said. "With college tennis, there really are a lot of tennis swings and it's contagious."
Senior Ludovic Walter and sophomore Peter Rodrigues followed Atas with a pair of victories to give the Blue Devils a 3-1 lead. Walter, ranked fifth nationally, crushed 45th-ranked Luke Shields, 6-0, 6-2.
Like Atas, Rodrigues survived a tough first-set tiebreaker and folded his opponent in two sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1. Though he was climbing from behind for most of the first set, Rodrigues never lost his composure.
The last three matches of the day went to three sets. Dimitrov fought off an early break to win the final set, 6-4, and cap the Blue Devil victory.
"Kiril's clinched a lot of big matches this year," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "When the match is on the line, he really raises his level."
Senior Jonathan Stokke was up a break early in the final set of his match when he pulled a muscle in his upper leg and fell 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. His teammate, Amritraj, roared back to win the second set and was tied at four in the third set when Dimitrov sealed the win.
Duke rolled over Winthrop (16-7) in the first round Saturday with a 4-0 sweep. Sunday's win sets up a battle between the Blue Devils and the Cardinal, which holds the NCAA record of 17 national championships in its history.
"Stanford's going to be a tough match," Smith said. "They're not quite at the level they were historically, but they're always tough."
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