After falling short in the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament to Virginia last May, Duke is determined to start the 2010 fall season strong. Hosting the Duke Fab Four Invite in Cary, N.C., this weekend, the team will face off against 11 of the top teams in the country.
The Blue Devils have good reason to expect improvement this year with both Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha returning as ITA All-Americans. Head coach Ramsey Smith is pleased with his players, but acknowledges the fall season as a time for learning and gearing up for the rest of the year.
“We haven’t made specific outcome goals,” Smith said. “It’s more performance goals and working individually with them, helping their strengths and filling in the holes of their weaknesses. Our top two guys, Reid and Henrique, have definitely separated themselves.”
Co-captains Cunha and Carleton, the No. 1 doubles team in the nation, are enthusiastic to begin the season.
“I have confidence in myself,” said Cunha, a sophomore ranked preseason No. 2 in singles. “I got injured in the summer so I’m working on my conditioning back now. It’s getting better right now, so I will be fine.”
Likewise, senior Carleton is looking forward to this weekend.
“The bar is set pretty high for this season,” Carleton said. “We had never played with each other before last year, so we were obviously really pleased with the outcome. We haven’t played together all summer, so we’re all ready for this tournament just to get in some matches and get the season going.”
The future of the team is bright. Three freshmen, Cale Hammond, Christopher Mengel and Frederick Saba, join the roster this season.
“It’s a young group, these few freshmen are going to develop, and they’ve improved so much in some areas in just the last few weeks of practice,” Smith said. “These guys are all really solid and they fit in right away. I think they’re going to compete at the level of these other guys off the bat.”
The Fab Four Invite will be held at the same location as the ACC Tournament. This is the first year that Duke has hosted the tournament.
“Everyone is guaranteed four matches in singles and three matches in doubles,” Smith said. “We’re using all 24 courts and we’ve got 11 total teams coming in from all over the country, so it’s a great opportunity to get a lot of matches. Especially opening up the season we just have to get some matches.”
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