Friday, the Blue Devils saw their undefeated ACC record blemished. Sunday, they bounced back in style.
After losing 6-1 to No. 1 Virginia (21-0, 6-0 in the ACC) in Charlottesville, No. 10 Duke (14-7, 5-1) dominated Virginia Tech from start to finish, winning the road matchup 6-1, including a sweep of the doubles matches.
“I thought we did a great job rebounding from a tough loss. We haven’t been too great at rebounding in past years,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “I was really proud of the guys today. We treated it just like the Virginia match.”
That Virginia match was a tough one for the Blue Devils. Facing the team that bested them in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments last year, Duke came in most likely looking for revenge. None was to be found. The Blue Devils dropped the doubles point after Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha fell 8-6 to Drew Courtney and Michael Shabaz, then David Holland and Chris Mengel fell to Jarmere Jenkins and Sanam Singh.
Duke’s singles play wasn’t much better, with five of the six Blue Devils falling to their Cavalier counterparts. Only Cunha could top his opponent.
Overall, though, Smith was pleased with the manner in which his team handled the difficult competition.
“We were certainly close in a bunch of matches, but didn’t take advantage of a few opportunities that we had,” the coach said. “It’s great to play an undefeated team like that, to see how we match up.”
Friday represented the fourth career singles match between Cunha and the nation’s fifth-ranked player, Shabaz. Shabaz bested Cunha and Carleton in doubles play, 8-6, but his singles match against Cunha would prove much more challenging.
The first set was hard-fought, ending with Cunha winning in a 9-7 tie-breaker. In the second set, Cunha came out with a much more comfortable 6-3 win. The win moved Cunha to a career record of 13-0 in ACC.
“It was a really hard match,” Cunha said. “[Shabaz] is a great player, and I was serving well and hitting my forehand and backhand well. I think he lost a little momentum on the tie-break in the first set. In the second set, I kept playing aggressive and won.”
Sunday, Duke faced the Hokies (11-8, 3-4) in Blacksburg and came away with a win spurred on by a dominating performance in doubles play, with all three teams topping their Virginia Tech opponents.
Carleton was the first off the court for the Blue Devils after beating his opponent in a “great” 6-2, 6-4 win, according to Smith. Cunha was next off, then freshman Chris Mengel, who won his match against Pedro Graber after winning the first set in a 7-4 tie-breaker.
The last three matches all went to three sets, with Torsten Wietoska and Luke Marchese coming out on top.
Smith chalked the win up to a steady energy from the team, despite having to play in hostile surroundings.
“I think we’re a really tight team and we come out with a lot of energy,” Smith said. “On the road, every match is really tough. I thought we had more energy and intensity today than Virginia Tech.”
The Blue Devils will need to keep up that intensity, because their schedule isn’t getting any easier. This weekend, the team hits the road again to face Georgia Tech in Atlanta then Clemson in South Carolina.
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