All season long, Duke had been waiting for that one breakthrough match in which it faced a higher-ranked opponent, on the road, and proved it could win the big one.
Wednesday night, the No. 16 Blue Devils (14-7, 7-2 in the ACC) did just that, beating No. 5 North Carolina (20-1, 8-1) in Chapel Hill by a score of 5-2 to record the team's most meaningful win of the season.
"Whenever we play against UNC, there's always going to be a lot of tension, and everyone is going to be really fired up," head coach Jay Lapidus said. "We nipped and tucked the whole way, and we ended up winning some matches where we looked to be in trouble, so I'm really happy for the team."
In doubles, the second-seeded team of Dylan Arnould and Ned Samuelson pulled away from its opponent for an 8-6 win. The fifth-ranked pair in the country, David Goulet and Joey Atas, once again was victorious to earn the doubles point for Duke.
Singles play also began comfortably for the Blue Devils, as Peter Rodrigues and Goulet both won their matches in straight sets. Rodrigues' win marked the senior's 100th career victory.
The Tar Heels, however, refused to give up, winning two matches to bring the score to 3-2. Duke did not collapse, though, and sixth-seed Alex Stone clinched the morale-boosting win for the Blue Devils with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 victory.
Duke ended UNC's undefeated season and moved to within one match of second place in the conference, behind the Tar Heels. Virginia leads the ACC standings with 9-0 record, and the Blue Devils will get their chance against the No. 2 Cavaliers Friday in Charlottesville, Va.
"They are awfully good also, so this is a situation of out of the pot and into the frying pan basically," Lapidus said.
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