Duke kicked off its fall season this weekend with solid performances at the UVA Fall Invitational in Charlottesville, Va.
"It was a really good experience," freshman Christopher Price said. "Based on our performance, I think we have a really good chance on winning the national championships this year."
Price lost his college first match against George Washington's Erik Hannah 6-1, 6-3, but won his first consolation match against Charlotte's Brad Clinard 6-3, 7-6.
Leading the Blue Devils in singles action, sophomore David Lue and freshman Reid Carleton both took first place in their consolation brackets.
"Reid had an excellent tournament," said assistant coach Ramsey Smith. "He seemed to get better each round in the back draw."
Carleton defeated Stetson's Marcus Echtler in Sunday's finals 6-4, 7-5, 10-7, while Lue improved to 3-1 on the season with his 4-6, 6-0, 10-2 win over Virginia's Andrew Downing.
Junior Kiril Dimitrov and sophomore Aaron Carpenter set the pace in the singles brackets with two wins apiece Friday before falling in the semifinals Saturday. After winning his first match by default, Carpenter shut down Brown's Nathaniel Gorham 6-3, 6-1, but fell 6-3, 7-5, to Sebastien Dietz of Binghamton. No. 57 Dimitrov shook off Elon's Alberto Rojas 6-1, 6-0, and defeated Maryland's Andrew Orban 6-2, 7-5 before losing to No. 1 Somdev Devvarman of Virginia, 6-3, 6-3.
"Kiril looked sharp," Smith said. "He didn't play his best match [against Somdev], but it was still very competitive. I think he's not too far away from his level."
The Blue Devils also tested out their doubles match-ups for the first time this season with some promising results. ITA All-American senior David Goulet and Price cruised to an 8-1 victory over Brown's Saurabh Kohli and Nathaniel Gorham. The duo lost its momentum against Penn State's Michael James and Adam Slagter, losing 8-5.
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