After needing almost four hours to knock off Notre Dame 5-2 Friday, the Blue Devils made sure their tilt against Boston College a day later would not be nearly as dramatic at Ambler Tennis Stadium.
Duke started off the match by winning the doubles point with victories by its No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams and never looked back, crushing the Eagles 7-0 Saturday afternoon. The Blue Devils' top doubles tandem of Nicolas Alvarez and Jason Tahir set the tone, quickly disposing of the Eagles’ team of Philip Nelson and Matt Wagner by a score of 8-1 to get their team off to a fast start.
“[Tahir and I] played pretty well,” Alvarez said. “It’s our second match of the entire season together in doubles, and I think today, we played really aggressive. Overall, it was a very good match.”
Shortly after Duke's top tandem won, the No. 3 team of Bruno Semenzato and T.J. Pura topped Alexander Aziz and Jeffrey Melvin by a score of 8-3 to clinch the doubles point. Raphael Hemmeler and Josh Levine, the No. 2 doubles team for the Blue Devils, led Boston College’s Kent Mukai and Will Turner 6-4, but the match was left unfinished.
“We were solid on doubles,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “I thought we built on some of the momentum from the last couple of days, and specifically yesterday, against Notre Dame, where we played a little better.”
The match continued with Alvarez handily winning his singles match against Nelson by a score of 6-1, 6-1. Alvarez, the No. 11-ranked singles player in the nation, is now 28-7 this season.
Because the Eagles typically play most of their home matches indoors, the Lima, Peru, native conceded that the windy weather could have played a role in his decisive victory.
“I think these conditions did not favor my opponent,” Alvarez said. “He is used to playing on indoor courts, and with all this wind, it was hard for him to play his game.”
Smith, however, did not think that wind played a factor at all in any of the outcomes.
"We’re far enough into the season where [Boston College] has played enough outdoors that it probably was not as big of a deal,” Smith said. “Maybe early March, or in the first few matches outside, there might have been an adjustment period, but I don’t think it mattered today.”
Duke’s next victory came from its third-best singles player, when Hemmeler defeated Kyle Childree by a score of 6-0, 6-1. Within minutes of Hemmeler’s match going final, No. 34 Jason Tahir defeated Mukai by a score of 6-2, 6-0, and the Blue Devils clinched the win.
“[Alvarez] really stood out today,” Smith said. “He has lost a couple matches, and I thought that he looked really good… He had lost a couple matches where he had not played so great throughout, but today, he was just really good from start to finish. Hemmeler, too, has just kept doing what he has been doing. He’s been such a strong spot for us. I thought he played very clean today.”
In the remaining three matches, Duke fared just as well despite already knowing the overall outcome.
Pura came back after falling behind 3-1 in the first set to ultimately win 6-4. In the second set, Pura breezed past his opponent, Wagner, to end the match by a score of 6-4, 6-2. The Blue Devils then extended the lead against Boston College to 6-0, when Levine defeated Melvin 6-4, 6-1. With the win, Levine snapped a four-match losing streak and improved to 16-13 overall for the year.
The last match of the day to go final was the match between the team's fourth-best singles players, which featured Semenzato and Turner. In the first set, Semenzato’s 5-3 lead was erased, as Turner was able to force a seven-point tiebreaker. Turner led the tiebreaker 5-2, but Semenzato responded with a 6-1 run, eventually prevailing 8-6 to take the opening set.
Turner won the second set quickly by a score of 6-2, and the match came down to a 10-point super tiebreaker. Semenzato jumped out to a 3-2 lead, but Turner came back to make it 5-3, in his favor. But Semenzato responded with a 6-1 run that gave him triple match point. Turner gave Semenzato a scare, clawing his way back to 9-8, but Semenzato was able to close out the Boston College freshman by winning the next point to preserve the shutout.
Duke will return to action at 3 p.m. Thursday at No. 19 North Carolina, looking to continue the momentum it built at home this weekend in the rivalry.
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Jacob Weiss is a Trinity senior. His column, "not jumping to any conclusions," runs on alternate Fridays.